Murder By Stardust
by Emperor Andross
Summary: Joyce & Tom are attending a Wildlife Festival in Devon, but as usual a trail of bodies soon appears to ruin proceedings. Jones soon joins him and together they'll have to deal with an uncooperative local detective, and a secret society if they are to catch a serial murderer. X-over with Linda Chapman's 'Stardust'.
1. Prologue

First Printed in 2011

This is a work of fiction—any resemblance to actual people living or dead is coïncidental

2011

***AN: This story was cowritten with my sister, so I can take full responsibility (or blame) for it. It is a crossover with the children's book series, '_Stardust_' by Linda Chapman, but please, don't let the fact that there are fairy's fluttering around put you off, this story is at it's heart a MidSomer Murders story, with as much death and intrigue (in our opinion anyway) as any of the episodes. We hope you enjoy it.**

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><p><strong>PROLOGUE<strong>

It was a dull night in Devon. Thick dark clouds mostly obscured the almost full moon, and a chilling breeze blew across the countryside. Most people by this time were in bed, but just outside the second story windows of two neighbouring houses, a slight shimmer betrayed the fact that not all were...

With a light sparkling, one of the shimmers coalesced to form the image of an eleven year-old girl with curly blond hair and a mischievous grin. "Hi Lucy!" Called the girl, flying over to meet her best friend.

The second shimmer also failed with a slight sparkle, revealing an auburn haired girl of about the same age. "Hi, Allegra." Returned Lucy, "How did the shopping go today?"

Allegra giggled. "Fine." She said, "But you should have seen the list that Joanna gave Xanthe and me!" Joanna was the mother of one of their good friends, for many weeks now she had been one of the main organizers for a wildlife and nature promotional festival, and to the general amusement of Lucy, Allegra and their friends, had become increasingly harried over the past few weeks.

"Long would be an understatement for it!" Continued Allegra, "It took up three whole pages! And Joanna was doing that much again herself!"

"Oh, well. I guess it's a big thing for her—she's never done anything like this before." Lucy commented.

"I guess." Conceded Allegra. She looked up at the sky scrutinisingly and shivered. "There's a strange feel to the air tonight, isn't there?" She stated, quietly.

"Yeah, there is." Lucy agreed, "It's almost like... Oh, I don't know what! But it's certainly not a good feeling."

"Mmm, I know what you mean..."

The two of them once again eyed the racing clouds above.

The two girls were anything but normal children; inherited from the four Royal Stars, Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut, they possessed the power to turn into magical spirits during the night. There were large but secret groups of people all over the world that met in woods, plains and beaches by night as 'Stardust Spirits', so called because of their ability to use the magic from the stars.

Allegra's mother was a Stardust Spirit as well, and the unofficial leader of their local group, for though she was only young, her powers were far greater than most could even hope of achieving. Joanna and her daughter Robyn were also Stardust Spirits, and it was through their group that the Wildlife Fair had first been conceived. For the Stardust Spirits, in return for their powers had dedicated themselves to repairing damage to nature caused by humans.

But due to their affinity with nature, and their magic besides, they were acutely attuned to nature, and the current weather sent a clear message to all that could read it: 'something was wrong'.

"C'mon." Said Allegra presently, "Maybe the others know more about it."

"Maybe..." Repeated Lucy, but she doubted it. "Let's go then." With simultaneous shimmers, they both disappeared from view again, and only a slight distortion of the air betrayed their position as they soared away from their houses and over the woodlands behind them.

It was raining by the time that they reached the glade in the middle of the forest where their Stardust community met. With their hair plastering itself to their faces, and the usually ethereal petals of their dresses sticking to their bare legs.

Seeing a girl of their own age standing beneath a dense fir tree at the side of the glade, Lucy and Allegra flew down to her, landing just a few feet away. "Hi Lucy, Hi Allegra." the girl said, blowing a lock of blonde hair out of her face.

"Hey Faye." Returned Lucy and Allegra as they tried to wring themselves out a little. "Are the other's not here yet?" Added Lucy.

"No, they're just over there, finding out what we're supposed to be doing tonight." Said Faye, grinning at the two's attempts to dry themselves off.

"Why are _you_ still dry?" Grumbled Allegra as she gave up wringing her hair.

"I just used my winter powers to stop the rain from falling on me." Faye answered, half gesturing at her ice blue dress as their other two friends joined them.

Each Stardust Spirit belonged to a different season, and drew their power from a different Royal Star.

Faye, a Winter Spirit, drew her power from the Fomalhaut and was clothed in a dress of Bright blue. Allegra, shared her association with Antares, the autumn Star, and was dressed in silver for the wind. The two new comers, Ella and Robyn, were dressed in green and gold respectively, Ella for the spring, and for Aldebaran, and Robyn for the summer star; Regulus.

Lucy had once been a Summer Spirit as well, but last year, she and her friends had been captured by evil spirits, who had craved Lucy's unusually strong powers for themselves. They had tried to channel the magic of the four stars through her, seeking to give themselves access to all four seasons' powers, but in the end, their efforts had backfired, and Lucy had instead gotten the access to the four seasons, and the Evil ones, with their leader dead from the uncontrollable magic had fled.

Now Lucy, while she still had an affinity for summer magic, was able to use the other three branches of Stardust magic as well. Though not to the same standard as her friends could, and she still found rain, the basic winter magic, particularly hard to control.

"Hi guys," Said Ella brightly. Robyn grumbled the greeting.

"What's the matter?" Asked Lucy in surprise of the stony grumble.

Robyn exploded, "My Mum's the problem!" she fumed, "Honestly! She's in such a state with this festival that it's ridiculous!"

Ella giggled. "What's happened now?" Asked Faye.

"It's awful!" She grumbled "Apart from making me ask you whether or not you're coming tomorrow—as if I haven't been told to do that a few million times before!—she's asked us to go and check on the river tonight—"

"That doesn't sound so bad." Allegra commented, interrupting Robyn's diatribe.

"Well no... But that's not the end of it! She wants us to be back within an hour so that we 'don't get to worn out for tomorrow'!" Robyn whinged.

"Hullo, girls." Greeted Joanna as she flew up behind them. The five girls jumped.

"Hi, Joanna," Said Allegra brightly, recovering quickly.

"We were just talking about what we're going to do tonight." Chimed in Faye, "And also about the festival tomorrow of course."

Joanna beamed, "Ahh, excellent, so you're all coming then?"

Faye, Ella, Allegra and Lucy all nodded; Robyn behind her mum buried her head in her hands. Joanna looked pleased, "I'm glad about that." She said, before turning to Robyn who only just snapped to attention in time. "Now remember, I want you back within the hour. Any problems that can't be fixed within that time; come and tell us about okay!"

"Yes, Mum." Robyn sighed wearily.

"Come on! Let's go get 'em!" Shouted Allegra as she took to the air, "Last one to the river is stripped like a badger!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Shouted Ella after her as the other four took off.

"I know!" Grinned Allegra as she somehow managed to soar ahead of them backwards, "I was pretending to be Australian, _none _of their sayings make any sense!"

"You'd better worry more about where you're going." Called Lucy just before Allegra got cleaned up by a tree. With a startled shriek, she managed to avoid going further than bumping a few branches, but in the time it took for her to right herself, everyone else had sailed past and crossed the line of the river.

"So whatever a stripped badger is—Allegra is one of them." Grinned Robyn.

Allegra 'hmphed' and said nothing. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, they patrolled up and down the river, and removed a large mattress that had disrupted the rain swollen flow quite badly, before regrowing some damaged undergrowth. They watched the otter's frolic in the water for a few minutes, and then they flew back to the clearing.

"Where have you _been!" _Cried Joanna as they flew back into the clearing, talking amongst themselves about their night's adventures. Upon hearing Joanna's voice they sprang to attention, "You've been gone for ages! I was about to come looking for you!" She ranted.

"Sorry." Ella said placating, "We must have lost track of time."

Joanna's face softened, "Never mind, you're here now, how was everything?"

"Fine." Said Ella, giving a brief report on what they had done.

"Hmm, well it seems like you've had a productive evening." Joanna decreed.

"Yeah, it's been a strange one though," Said Lucy, "Has anyone else noticed the strange feeling that's been around tonight?"

"Yeah," Added Allegra, "It's been really odd."

"Unsettling." Said Faye astutely.

"What's the matter?" Asked Xanthe flying up to them after evidently arriving while they were gone.

"There's that really weird feeling in the air." Said Lucy, "We've been wondering about it.

Xanthe looked a little surprised, "You're right, it's rather an unfriendly feeling," She said, "But it's very subtle—I'm surprised you girls noticed it."

"Well I didn't." Conceded Joanna, "But then I've been concerned about the Festival tonight."

"And every other night for the past two weeks." Muttered Robyn beneath her breath.

"Speaking of which, you'd better be heading back to bed girls!" Noted Joanna happily.

"What!" Exploded Robyn, "But it's only early!"

"You don't want to be tired and cranky for the festival, do you?" Frowned Joanna.

"We've _never_ been to bed this early though!" Argued Allegra who also looked mutinous, Lucy agreed, as did Faye and Ella.

"But, you—" Started Joanna, but Xanthe soothingly cut across, "Maybe they can just play quietly around here." She suggested, "I'm sure they won't wear themselves out too much."

Lucy shot Xanthe a grateful look but Allegra and Robyn still didn't look particularly impressed. It seemed to be an acceptable compromise to Joanna though who grudgingly agreed to it "On the condition that you _do _all go to bed early."

"Sorry." Whispered Xanthe to the girls as Joanna walked away, "I'm afraid that Jo gets like this when she's fixated on something. If you can just wait it out 'till the end of the festival, things'll go back to normal... Promise..." She shot a smile at them before going off to rescue Faye's sister, Lizzie, and her friends who had managed to do something to raise the ire of Joanna in the sixty or so seconds that she had gone off alone.

"Anyone else get the feeling that Xanthe's running damage control at the moment?" Asked Allegra with a slight smile. Lucy nodded.

"Well c'mon, if we're confined to the clearing here, we might as well make the best of it... You're it!" Cried Allegra, tagging Faye and then shooting off into the sky. The three other girls took to the air with shrieks of fun, and a second later the five of them had forgotten all about their grievances with the festival the next day, as they soared through the dripping trees in an entertaining game of tick.

* * *

><p>At one end of the main street, slightly apart from the terrace buildings that made up the line of shops, a small brick building stood innocuously, a fading sign hanging over the door proclaimed to be 'Star Insurance'.<p>

At this hour of the night, the whole village was still, and the main street, though well-lit through the centre, was covered by shadows up past the end of the row where Star Insurance was, and so a cloaked person darting from one shadow to another went by completely undetected.

The person crept up along the side of the building, carefully feeling along the window ledges as they went until at last, finding whatever they were looking for, they stopped.

The sudden ringing of the church bells scared the life out of the becloaked figure, until they remembered that the chimes were automated. As the counting toll rang out for the second time, the figure raised their arm back and struck the window with a large rock that they had picked up from the window still, the large reverberating ring from the charge almost completely blocking the sound of the breaking glass.

Now far more confident, the intruder entered through the window, and disappeared into the shadows within the building.

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><p><strong>M I D S O M E R<strong>

**M U R D E R S**

_Murder by Stardust_


	2. The First Day at the fair

***AN: Right, now the important bit starts**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER-ONE<strong>

**IN WHICH WE SPEND THE FIRST DAY AT THE FAIR**

The inaugural Wild Life Conservation Fair had been set up on one of the cricket ovals in the middle of town, the bright tents and posters filling the oval and the surrounding hill which had been piled up around the outside like a half a stadium when the oval had first been flattened out.

The Festival had brought people from all over the country, there were stalls from all kinds of people, from environmentalists, to Vets, to climatologists, to save the penguin groups, and a host of others too varied to name.

In the large car park, Joyce Barnaby was practically dragging her husband Tom out of the car. "Come on, Tom." She said as her husband stiffly pulled a jacket on, "I don't know what you're problem with a wildlife convention is."

"Nothing." Said Tom as he closed and locked the car door behind him, "I _do _however mind being dragged out of my warm bed at the crack of dawn and been given orders to drive down to Devon for one though. And I really can't see what the ta'do is about; it's hardly going to make a difference to humpback whales whether we turn up or not."

"That's where you're wrong, Tom." Said Joyce as they entered the oval, "This whole festival is aimed at how _we_ can make a difference."

"By paying over a whole lot of money." Grumbled Tom sceptically.

"Hullo!" Said a voice, Tom and Joyce looked to the side to see a thirty-ish woman with curly blond hair, "Would you like to buy a raffle ticket? We're using the money to improve the local woods just here." She said, pointing at the thick trees at the edge of the town. "First prize is a five treatment course of reflexology." She added. Tom shot an 'I told you so' look at Joyce before wondering away to a stand that was selling polarfleece 'save the Dartmoor Pony' jackets.

"What a lovely lady." Said Joyce as she caught up a minute or two later, tucking two raffle tickets into her purse.

"So just what is reflexology?" Asked Tom suspiciously as they walked through the crowded aisle.

"Apparently, it's like a foot massage that unblocks all the energy flows in the body." Said Joyce.

"Oh, and does it improve your looks, make you feel younger and improve your appetite and sex life?"

"I really don't know why you have to be so cynical, Tom." Said Joyce resignedly as they entered another aisle with even more people in it.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Lucy!" Cried Allegra as she dragged her friend across the aisle in the space where the Barnabys had been a moment before. "Ella and Faye said that they'd meet us at the cup and saucer!"<p>

"But I was reading that bit about the Moor Ponies." Said Lucy as she stumbled along behind her, "It was saying something about pony rides later!"

"Well we'll come back later." Insisted Allegra, "But we need to find Ella and Fa— oof!" She jerked backwards, sending her, Lucy and the girl that she had run into sprawling on the ground.

"Sorry." Said the other girl shyly as she dusted herself off.

"My fault." Grinned Allegra cheerfully as Lucy took in her appearance. She looked about their age with bright copper hair, bluey-green eyes and a round face. She was wearing a straw hat and a pale blue polo-shirt; she also looked like she'd been up all night given her bloodshot and shadowed eyes.

"I haven't seen you around here before." Commented Lucy as she pulled Allegra to her feet.

"No, me and my family have only just moved here for a few months." The other girl said brightly with an Oceania accent. "We moved into Hyacinth Cottage yesterday."

"Hyacinth Cottage?" Exclaimed Allegra, why that's just up the street from us!"

"So you're the new tenants." Lucy added.

"Yep, Me and Mum and Dad." Grinned the red head, "My name's Keely."

"Mine's Lucy, and this is my next door neighbour and best friend, Allegra." Said Lucy.

"Speaking of best friends." Allegra said to Lucy, "Faye and Ella will be wondering where we are."

"Yeah, you're right. See you later Keely!" Lucy said with a small wave.

"Yeah, bye." Said Keely somewhat sadly as they walked away.

"She seemed nice." Commented Lucy as they walked away.

"Yeah, I wonder where she came from? We didn't ask." Said Allegra.

"Must be somewhere pretty far away; like America or something." Said Lucy, "Did you see how bad her eyes were? It must have been a long trip."

"Didn't sound very American..."

"Lucy! Allegra! Over here!" Called a voice. Lucy and Allegra turned towards the call and saw Ella and Faye standing in line for the Cup and Saucer ride.

"Hi guys!" Returned Allegra as she and Lucy joined their friends in the line.

"What kept you?" Demanded Ella.

"We just met the new tenants of one of the houses up our street." Said Allegra.

"Well, one of them anyway." Amended Lucy.

"What have you guys been doing?" Asked Allegra.

"Waiting for you and Robyn to turn up, mostly." Said Ella.

"And working out which rides we're going to go on." Smiled Faye. At that moment, the line moved forward again, and the four girls found themselves at the head of the line. "Ticket's Girls?" Asked the ride operator.

"Oh." Said Lucy and Allegra in unison as they both realised that they had none. But Faye pulled out four tickets out of her pocket and passed them to the man, who let them through. "Thanks a lot." Said Lucy.

"Yeah, I thought we were going to have to sit this one out." Said Allegra in agreement.

"We bought extra tickets in case you showed up." Explained Faye.

"And what if we _hadn't _turned up?"

"Then we just would have had to go on again." Grinned Ella.

"Well we've got the next time." Said Lucy as they climbed into a cup.

They sat themselves down and waited as other people were led onto the ride, gradually filling up the other cups. "Look! There's Robyn!" Pointed Allegra, pointing out the chestnut haired girl waving to them. She disappeared behind the ticket box and a moment later rushed through the gate and up to their cup, thrusting her ticket at the operator as she passed.

"Hey guys," She said as she sat down beside Lucy.

"How's your mum?" Asked Allegra with a slight grin.

Robyn groaned, "Like a mother hen!" She exclaimed. "She keeps flitting from stall to stall, making sure that everyone's comfortable... I've never seen her so jittery; not even last year when all the Dark Spirits where around!" Robyn's expression was so comical that Lucy couldn't contain the small giggle that escaped her; the others all joined in too, even Robyn had to smile.

Lucy grinned in excitement. It wasn't very often that the five of them got to meet with each other during the day—they met each night of course, but sometimes it was nice to just be five normal friends as well.

"Excuse me? Do you mind if I sit here too?" Asked a voice. The five looked up, it was Keely.

"Of course not." Replied Lucy politely, but inside she'd wished that she could say 'no'. Having another person there meant that they couldn't talk about what they did at night—no one was allowed to know about the Stardust World—it was the first rule that Lucy had learned.

Lucy and Robyn moved around a bit, giving Keely room to sit, though the quick looks of irritation that passed over Robyn and Allegra's faces suggested that they too resented not being able to talk about their night time world.

"So Keely, where do you come from?" Asked Allegra politely, breaking the ice as the ride began to move. "One of the neighbours said you came from overseas."

"Yeah, we come from Australia, My mum and Dad and I." Replied Keely, "We used to live out in the bush, near Melbourne. But Dad had to move up here because of his job, so we had to leave... England seems great and all, but I used to really like living in the forest..." Just then the ride sped up and soon the girls were having too much fun to talk anyway. At last the ride began to slow down again and Lucy began to wonder where they were going to go next.

"Hey," Asked Keely suddenly, "You know just before I asked if the seat was free, you said something about Stardust spirits..."

"Just a game we like to play." Said Robyn quickly, but Keely pressed on, "Are you all Stardust Spirits too?"

The five English girls looked at each other, "Yes, we are." Said Allegra at last.

"Oh, thank goodness." Said Keely, "I was in a group back in Australia, but none of them knew anyone in Devon, I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to find any of the groups..."

"What kind of animals did you look after in Australia?" Asked Lucy with interest; she always loved to hear about different types of animals.

"Mostly Wallabies and Wombats." Replied Keely as the girls—now numbering six—climbed off the ride and walked back into the crowd, "But sometimes we'd see lyrebirds—they're a bit like a cross between a peacock and a whatchamacallit—Pheasant. And we'd see the odd koala and Yabbies, and if we were really lucky, even platypuses in the rivers..."

"I've seen pictures of Platypuses," Said Faye, "They're gorgeous!"

"It's very different to what we have here." Said Allegra, "Here we have otters, and badgers, and—"

"Keely!" They were interrupted by a voice calling. "Keely!"

"Oh, that's my mum." Said Keely turning to look across the aisle where a thin blond woman was beckoning. "It was nice to meet all of you." She said loud enough for her mum to hear; then added more quietly: "Mum and Dad aren't Stardust spirits... Where do you guys meet?"

"In a clearing in the middle of the woods." Said Faye equally quietly.

"Come down to my place tonight." Whispered Allegra, "We'll show you the way."

"Five doors down and across the street." Lucy added.

"Thanks, bye!" said Keely at normal volume with a smile as she turned and walked away to where her mum was waiting. "Bye!" The others called after her.

"She seems nice." Commented Robyn.

"Yeah." Agreed Lucy, "I liked her."

"I wonder what kind of spirit she is..." Mused Allegra.

"We'll find out tonight." Said Ella practically.

"S'pose. I bet she's either autumn or winter." Said Allegra.

"What makes you say that?" Asked Lucy as they resumed walking. Allegra shrugged, "Just seems the type." She said.

"It must be really hard to move overseas." Said Faye sympathetically.

Lucy nodded, "Particularly all the way from Australia."

Not content with any subject for too long, Allegra changed it, "What are we going to do now?"

"Something that avoids going near Mum. So more Rides?" Suggested Robyn.

"Yeah!" Chorused the other girls.

* * *

><p>"Well, I'm still not sure about your wildlife conservation stuff, Joyce, but this wine is fantastic!" Said Tom as he took a sip of the golden coloured liquid.<p>

"It's an Organic Cab Sav," Said Joyce, reading from the brochure that they'd been handed about their wine when they'd bought it.

"And real glasses too." Added Tom, pinging the glass side gently, "They must be spending a fortune on this thing!"

"They're using real glasses to help prevent litter." Read Joyce, again looking to the brochure for the answer, "And organic food and drink mean that no chemicals where used in the festival."

Barnaby frowned. "No chemicals?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well that's what it says."

"Well what about the stuff used to print out that leaflet, or the petrol to bring everything here?" He pointed out, "Or are you telling me that they had everything brought here by horse and cart?"

"Tom!"

"It's always the same with all of this stuff, you never have to go far to find the hypocrisy behind these kinds of people."

Joyce was taken aback, but before she could answer, a shout from across the small eating square demanded their attention:

"For goodness sake! I pay you a small fortune! The least you could do is make sure you get your stuff right!"

The scene was being caused by a tubby middle aged woman in a pale yellow sundress that clashed terribly with her wispy brown hair and winter complexion. She seemed to be directing her comments at a smartly dressed man in his late thirties, who was struggling to keep his own cool.

"Please Anna," He was saying through gritted teeth, though still more calmly, "Don't go making a scene in front of everyone."

"Your old man would never have stood for this, Doctor! I don't know why you can't get the stronger stuff in! God knows I pay you enough!"

"I have already told you that I can't prescribe anything stronger without providing a medical condition for the prescription and I'm afraid that putting down that a crotchety old lady wants a night's uninterrupted sleep wouldn't go down very well!" Snapped back the doctor.

"How dare you!" Spluttered the woman indignantly. With a scrunched up face she pitched the wine glass she was holding at the doctor's face, who barely ducked underneath it as it smashed against the metal frame of the gazebo behind him. A shower of broken glass and wine spilled down on him as he stumbled off to the side.

Tom leaped to his feet in case he had to intervene, but a young woman in her late twenties rushed forwards and grabbed the older woman by the arm as she seemed to be going for her handbag, "Now, now, Ms Thetique. Let's stop that now and this doesn't have to go to my boss." She said, gently but firmly steering her away.

"But did you hear that beast!" She cried, pointing with her free hand at the doctor, "Did you hear what he called me?"

"I know." Comforted the younger woman as she directed Ms Thetique away more forcefully, "Come on; let's get you home..."

Seeing that the young woman seemed to have the older lady in hand, Tom turned to the shaken doctor instead. "Are you okay, sir?" he asked.

"Wha'? Oh yeah, no permanent damage. Just a bit of wine on my suit." He replied, turning to Barnaby. "Stupid old, bat." he added, "She's on enough Dormalin to knock out a Rhino, but do you think anyone can get her to see sense? It's not like she doesn't sleep at all... I say good luck to young Rebecca there; she'll need it."

"Rebecca? Is that who just took her away?" Asked Tom with interest.

"Yeah, young Rebecca Chambers, local police constable, nice young lass." He said, "But she's fighting a losing battle there, that woman's as stubborn as a warthog; and not that much more intelligent either." He added. "Oh well, You'll have to excuse me; I s'pose I'd better do something about this broken glass, I dare say no one else is, and I'll be pulling glass out of animals feet for days otherwise."

"Oh? I was under the impression that you were a GP."

"Ah, well there's no vet in the village, so half the town bring pets with the odd scrape or bruise to me to be patched up." Said the doctor smoothly. "Well, see you around." With a vague flick of his hand, he took his leave as Tom wondered back to Joyce.

"You have to get involved in these things don't you." Chastised Joyce without looking up from the brochure, the back of which she was now reading.

"Well I couldn't very well just stand there and watch that fellow getting beaten up, could I?" Said Barnaby as he sat down.

"That girl seemed to have things under control." Countered Joyce, "Besides, you're off duty. Now I've found out about your petrol bit too, here listen: _'The food and other produce is sourced from local organic farms to save on petrol usage and other transport associated waste.'_"

"Oh, very well, you win, Joyce." Said Tom weakly, taking a sip of his wine.

* * *

><p>"Look." Declared Lucy, running ahead of the others as they approached the Moorland Pony stand, "I told you there were pony rides!"<p>

"One a pound a ride." Read Faye disappointedly, "I've only got eighty pence left."

"Same." Said Ella, checking her purse.

"Here." Said Lucy, handing Faye fifty pence, "Me and Allegra still owe you for the Cup and Saucer before."

Faye grinned at her, "Thanks Luce."

"Alright! Let's go!" Cried Allegra, running forward to the ticket box. The five girls paid over their money and approached the ponies with big smiles on their faces. Of the five of them, only Lucy had riding lessons—although Allegra had watched her a couple of times—and all of them were keen to ride with their friends.

All of the girls were led by the helpers as they walked around a couple of the aisles. Lucy greatly enjoyed riding, and even though it was only on a lead, she relished the chance to be back in the saddle. She looked around the crowds as she was led through, recognising many of the faces—not recognising many more. This festival had brought people from all over Devon, and even further afield, from Cornwall, Midsomer, Oxford, even across the Seven from Wales. But on the way back to the stand, Lucy saw a particularly familiar face, her sister Rachel stood on the side of the aisle just ahead. Lucy waved at her as they began to pass, but only received a roll of the eyes in response. Her older sister ignoring or teasing her was pretty much situation normal though, so Lucy just shrugged and turned back towards the front.

She saw what was going to happen moments before it did.

Across the aisle from Rachel was a teenager with a large, brightly coloured beach ball, and Allegra who was ahead of Lucy was glaring back at Rachel and hadn't seen it—neither had the handler, but as the boy lobbed the ball to one of his friends, the pony sure did.

With a deft movement, it shied away from the beach ball, pulling its lead rope out of her handler's hands. Allegra snatched the reins but the damage was already done, as with one bound the pony careered straight into the crowd.

Allegra to her credit, had the presence of mind to pull on the left rein, managing to avoid a small toddler, but this put her in a direct crash course with Rachel.

Lucy tensed, waiting for the all but inevitable crash, but to her surprise, it never came. The pony pulled up with just a fraction of an inch to spare. But the startled Rachel stumbled and tripped over backwards, landing in an ungainly heap on the ground,

"Are you okay?" Asked a shocked looking Allegra who had ended up clinging to the pony's neck in the abrupt stop.

"No thanks to you!" Snarled Rachel as she picked herself up.

"Sorry." Apologised Allegra, "I'm—"

"A maniac!" Yelled Rachel, "You couldn't have done a better job if you'd tried to hit me!"

"Rachel!" Admonished Lucy, dismounting and hurrying over, "It wasn't her fault, the pony got a fright; you know as well as anyone that—"

"And maybe she was trying to hit you!" Called a voice loudly, cutting off Lucy's protest halfway through and responding directly to Rachel. "I saw her pull the reins to the left—straight towards this young girl!" Continued the voice, a youngish man in his early twenties stepped out of the crowd and pointed out Rachel. Then almost as if speaking to the crowd more than those involved, he pointed accusingly at Allegra. "Looks to me like Miss Greenwood was trying to hit Miss Evans! Imagine if she had—she could have been seriously hurt!"

"I wasn't!" Protested Allegra desperately. "I swear I wasn't trying to—"

"She was trying to miss that boy!" Put in Lucy, as out of the corner of her eye she noticed the pony ride operator herd their friends and Lucy's unmounted pony away, slinking back into the crowd. You cowards! She thought bitterly.

"What boy?" Called someone else from in the crowd, "I don't remember seeing any boy!" Lucy shivered; an unusual and dangerous amount of anger and resentment was flashing through the crowd as they pressed closer, as if they were all contemplating sizing the now petrified looking Allegra.

"What's going on here?" Called a far more moderate voice. The crowd almost seemed to part as Lucy looked around to see Xanthe stepping towards them.

"Xanthe Greenwood! Your daughter is what's going on here!" Bellowed the earlier man angrily.

Allegra's mum paled as she glanced around, but as she caught sight of Allegra and Lucy she showed a brief look of relief before turning back towards the man coolly. "And just what in particular, has my daughter done. Sirius Eridanus?" She asked frostily, clearly displaying contempt.

"What has she done? She's only just tried to run over your next door neighbour!" Cried Sirius, pointing at Rachel who at least had the decency to look like she'd dearly like to be somewhere else.

"Is this true?" Xanthe asked Allegra sharply. Allegra turned red and stuttered a few times, but before she could get anything out, Lucy spoke up in her defence. "Her pony spooked at something! And Rachel was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! It was an accident!"

"Well there you go, just sounds like a bit of a misunderstanding to me." Said Xanthe smoothly, "Nothing for everyone to get worked up about." She grabbed the reins of Allegra's pony which had been left behind when the owner had abandoned ship, and turned to leave.

But Sirius wasn't finished yet, "So you don't care that your daughter could have seriously injured Miss Evans here?"

"Rachel doesn't look very hurt to me, Sirius—and even her own sister doesn't seem too worried about her. So no, I'm not particularly concerned." Replied Xanthe calmly, continuing to walk away.

"Ah well, what would you expect from someone with your past, Xanthe?" Xanthe froze. She turned back towards Sirius with a look of loathing and, to Lucy's surprise, fear. Lucy looked back and forward between the two of them staring each other down, wondering if Sirius was talking about what she thought he was, but how could he possibly know?

"Oh yes!" He continued, gloating at the stricken look. "I know all about your antics twelve years ago, Miss Greenwood; just what a—"

"You leave me and my daughter alone, Sirius." Xanthe said in a voice so dangerous that for a moment Lucy wondered if she'd really been the one that had said it. "Or the Business Malpractice Commission will be the least of your worries!"

"Is that a threat I hear from you, Xanthe?" Sneered Sirius.

"Is that blackmail I hear from you, Sir?" asked another voice. Tom Barnaby stepped out of the crowd, holding his warrant card in plain sight, "'cause if it is its highly illegal."

He stared from Sirius to Xanthe, both of whom broke from his gaze.

"Now." He said, "I don't know what caused all this, but I'm sure it's not worth making a public scene out of. Now, I want the both of you to leave, in opposite directions, and go home, before I arrest both of you for disturbing the peace!"

Xanthe started slightly, as if waking from a daze, "Of course. I apologise everyone." She said softly, "Come one, Allegra, we'd better take this pony back." She walked away leading the pony with a stunned Allegra and Lucy following behind.

Tom meanwhile, turned to Sirius who stood fuming, "Is there anything you wish to add, Sir." He asked the younger man sternly.

"No." Muttered Sirius.

"Well then, you'd better be on your way. Hadn't you?" Tom pressed. With a short jerk of the head that might have been an excuse for a nod, Sirius broke away and stormed off.

Tom returned to Joyce, who stood still clutching her glass of wine, "So much for your 'nice young lady'." He told her as they walked back towards the central food square.

"Oh well, but she seemed like such a nice and friendly person to talk to." Joyce said.

"Hmm, in my experience in Midsomer, everyone who seems friendly has some dark and nasty secret." Tom mused.

"But we're not in Midsomer." Pointed out Joyce good naturedly.

"I'm sure that the rule holds fairly true universally." Tom replied.

"And what if that had been Cully he was talking to _you_ in front of?"

"Then I would have tried the old 'I'm a policeman bit'." Grinned Barnaby roguishly, referring to a long established in-joke between them. Joyce just smiled in return.

* * *

><p>Bang! Sirius threw open his front door and sped through the kitchen and into the living room. He snatched up the phone and furiously dialled a number.<p>

"It's me." He announced without preamble as the line was answered, "I think I've made a mistake... ...No, but it will— ...No, but I think I may have let too much slip— ... ...Yeah, alright fine... Fine but I want to meet you... ...Yes, tonight."

He hung up with an odd glow in his eyes...


	3. In Which There is a Murder

*****AN: Still here? Sucker for punishment 'eh? well, we get a** murder now...**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER-TWO<strong>

**IN WHICH THERE IS A MURDER, AND A CERTAIN HURRICANE ARRIVES**

I can't wait until Keely comes so we can show her the Stardust glade." Chattered Lucy excitedly to Allegra.

Allegra nodded, "Me too. Hopefully we can go and visit the deer or badgers tonight—I bet Keely would love to see them."

"You mean you're not just _dying_ to show her the Blue Ground Beetle, then?" Asked Lucy with a grin.

"Not particularly." Allegra admitted. "And speaking of beetles, did you notice that those pony ride people disappeared at the first sight of trouble today."

"Yeah, it was a pretty poor effort." Agreed Lucy. "It was a shame; the Dartmoor Ponies were really cute."

At that moment, with a slight whoosh, Keely flew down and alighted beside them. "Hi guys!" She greeted.

"Hi!" Allegra and Lucy returned, taking in her blue dress—the mark of a winter spirit. "So, you ready to see the Stardust Glade?" Allegra asked.

Keely nodded nervously, "Is it far? At my old place I had to fly for almost an hour to get to the closest glade."

"An hour?" Exclaimed Allegra, "I thought you said you _lived_ in a forest!"

"We did, but our forest was huge."

"It's not far to our glade." Said Lucy, "Only ten minutes or so."

"That's a relief."

"Great, let's go then!" Enthused Allegra, and with a somersault, led the way to the clearing.

Ella, Faye and Robyn were waiting for them when they got there. "Hi." They greeted one another. "What do you think of the woods so far, Keely?" Asked Ella.

"Different from back home, that's for sure." She responded, "But I'm looking forward to exploring." She continued.

"Good evening, girls." Said Joanna as she flew up to them. Spotting the extra person, she added with a friendly smile, "You must be Keely. I'm Joanna, hi."

"Hi." Keely returned.

"Why don't you come over and meet some of the other Stardust spirits?" She asked.

"Okay..." Keely agreed.

"Then when she comes back, you can show her the otters, badgers and so on that live by the river." She said to the other girls.

"Okay." They all agreed.

"Just go on ahead, Keely, I'll be right with you." Said Joanna, motioning over to where Tom and Laura were speaking to each other. As she slowly walked away, Joanna turned to Allegra, "Xanthe late again?"

"Yeah." Said Allegra, "She said she had some stuff to do at home, and that she'd come later."

Joanna frowned but said nothing more. "Be back in a moment." She said finally, ducking off after Keely.

"She's beginning to make a habit of turning up late." Said Robyn. Allegra just shrugged. A few minutes later, Keely returned, looking a good deal less nervous.

"Come on! Let's go and see the river!" hassled Allegra impatiently.

"Sure." Agreed Keely. "Then let's go."

* * *

><p>Sirius put the full kettle on the stove as he waited patiently for Miss Graves to arrive, she had rung ahead to let him know that she would be arriving home that night, and he was rather wishing she'd hurry up and come. He sighed oddly as he waited—a determined calm on him.<p>

"Finally." he muttered as he heard a knock on the door. Putting the ball he was lightly passing from hand to hand down on the table, he got up and made his way into the entrance hall. The village was a quiet place, most people didn't even lock their doors at night; certainly Sirius suspected that he was one of the only people in town to have his house dead bolted. He released the catch and flung the door open, his grin disappearing as he caught sight of who was on the other side of the door. "Oh, you... I was expecting someone else." He started.

Had someone been standing out on the street, looking into the house a moment later, they may have seen a man writhing in agony on the floor as fire licked at his body, and may have heard his screams fade into the crackling of the fire.

* * *

><p>Amelia Graves may have been into her eighties, but it was still only with a great deal of prodding that she had finally agreed to get a walking stick. She was glad of it tonight though, she'd had a long day of travel and was quite worn out; she doubted that she would have been able to stay upright without it.<p>

She made her way up to the front of Sirius' house and knocked on the door. To her surprise, as she knocked, the door swung gently open, clearly not having been properly latched. Inside the well-established shriek of a kettle assaulted her ears.

Most people would have been content with knocking again and waiting for someone to answer, but Miss Graves instead called out loud to the owner before stepping in. "Hello?" She called again from the landing. No one being forthcoming, she walked herself into the kitchen, where the kettle sat on the gas stove, whistling furiously. Amelia stepped over a blackened pile of rags on the floor and walked to the stove, turning it off and silencing the cacophonous scream of the kettle.

"Hello?" She called again, as if he may hear her now that the noise had stopped, "Sirius dear? Are you there? I've come to collect my... OH!" Her glance strayed down to the burnt rags on the ground, amongst the charred fabric and ash, there were the clean white teeth of a skull—a human skull!

"Gracious! Police!" Echoed Miss Graves' voice as she fled from the house as fast as she could, "Polliiicccceeeee!"

* * *

><p>Rebecca glanced around the room with a shiver. Miss Graves sat in the sitting room with a strong cup of tea, still in shock from the horrible scene she had witnessed. Rebecca didn't blame her; the grizzly sight of the charred remains that had once been Sirius Eridanus was sickening. This wasn't what she had signed on for when she had become a police woman, but yet here she was waiting until some higher power told her she could leave the crime scene.<p>

She turned sharply as she heard footsteps and faced the door just in time to see a middle-aged man with greying brown hair and a grim expression step in. "I'm sorry, sir, but this house is a crime scene; you'll have to leave." She told him, walking towards him to escort him out if necessary. Instead the man retrieved a small leather wallet from his pocket and showed it to her, it was a warrant card. "I'm DCI Tom Barnaby from Causton CID."

"From Midsomer?" asked Rebecca in surprise.

"Yes, my wife and I are staying in town for the wildlife festival; I heard the sirens and came to see if I could help."

"Oh, well I'll take you to my boss, but Mid-Devon CID is miles away, we probably won't be seeing them for a couple of hours... so I'm sure you'd be appreciated. Follow me."

Her superior turned out to be a fair haired man in his late thirties, like Rebecca, he had no problems at all with Barnaby beginning the investigation.

"We never expected a murder here." He said, shaking Barnaby's hand, "The station is just myself, PC Chambers (he indicated Rebecca), and young PC Kayle, none of us have had to deal with a suspicious death before... In fact, there's never been any serious crimes here at all."

"No serious crimes? Well some people have all the luck." Muttered Barnaby, "So what do you do on a normal day then, Sergeant...?"

"Ah, Robert Evans, Sir." Replied the man, "I actually live just down the street from here. As for what we do? Paperwork mostly, if it's an active day, we might hand out a parking ticket or two."

Barnaby hrmmed amusedly.

"Did you know the victim?" he asked as they walked into the kitchen with Rebecca trailing behind.

"Not well—if it is indeed the owner of the house."

"Meaning it might not be?"

"Well we don't know who it is, Sir." Said Evans, indicating the pile of charred bones on the floor.

Barnaby winced, as he surveyed the scene, "Let's assume that it is." he said.

"Sirius Eridanus. He ran an insurance company here in the village." Said Robert, "He's got a partner in the business too... Oh, what's his name?" He clicked his fingers helplessly.

"Achernar Muliphein." Rebecca supplied. Robert nodded and turned back to Barnaby.

"That's the one."

"Right." Said Barnaby, "Well obviously we won't know for sure until we check the dental records, but it seems likely that this is Mr Eridanus; given that this is his home, and he's nowhere else to be found."

Rebecca glanced down at the charred corpse and looked away hurriedly, her stomach churning. "It's awful." She said "Who could do such a thing? In such a vile way?"

"Obviously someone with an especially powerful grudge against him." Said Tom grimly, "I don't suppose he would have a shortage of enemies, running an insurance agency?"

"I wouldn't know." Said Robert with a shrug. "I'm afraid I'm with one of the big ones up in London; so are most the people I know... Maybe Anna Thetique, the general store owner, she might still be with Star Insurance..."

"The thing that interests me is this fire." Said Barnaby, getting down on his hands and knees to inspect the floor. "Look, the body is burnt to a crisp, but the floor boards aren't even singed."

"I can't work out how the fire started either." Said Robert, "There's no sign or smell of petrol or matches or anything else like that."

"I may know." Said Barnaby. "I once worked on a case where someone was burning people to death by soaking their clothes with a Phosphorous solution."

"Phosphorous?" asked Rebecca.

"Yeah, the solution evaporates, leaving behind the phosphorous, which then reacts with the air."

"So, what? The person seems to just... spontaneously combust?" Asked Evans with a wince.

"Yah." Nodded Barnaby, "But I still can't believe that there wouldn't be damage to the floor—it's almost as if he was on a blanket or something that was removed afterward... but why go to all that trouble?"

"Or the person had great control over the fire." Blurted out Rebecca before she could stop herself.

"What, such that they could prevent it from even touching the floor?" Questioned Barnaby, "I think not."

Rebecca nodded, relieved that her almost slip about the Stardust world had gone unnoticed. She continued to listen as Robert and Barnaby continued to talk, but somehow, she thought the fire had a lot more to do with Stardust than with Phosphorous.

"Well, I don't think we'll find any more from him like this." Announced Barnaby. "'Least not until the MO gets here. Who found the body?"

"Uh, a Miss Graves, Sir." Said Rebecca. "She lives just a few doors down, next door to Robert in fact. She said she came to get her mail and heard the kettle whistling. She's just through here in the sitting room."

Barnaby frowned briefly and checked the kettle before stepping through the low doorway into the sitting room. "Miss Graves?" He asked. An elderly lady sat in one of the floral patterned couches with a large steaming mug of tea; she looked up as Barnaby came in. "I'm detective Chief Inspector Barnaby from Causton CID."

"Bit out of your area then, I should have thought." Said Miss Graves, though not unkindly. "Has the policing in this country really come to such a state that we have to bring people down from Midsomer for murders in Devon?"

Barnaby chuckled, "Not quite." He said, "No, I was just in the area, so I'm helping out until the DI from Mid-Devon arrives."

"That's very good of you, Inspector." Nodded Miss Graves approvingly, "And I suppose you'll want to know why I came around here in the middle of the night?"

"Well yes, that would be nice."

"I've taken to holidaying in the Lakes District you see—and young Sirius very kindly offered to collect the mail for me." She smiled at Barnaby cheerfully and Tom twitched a lip in return. "Well, my Taxi arrived back just a little while ago, and I saw the light on up here, so I thought: pop in and collect my mail."

"And you found him just as he is."

"Well, we have to assume that it's Sirius." Said Miss Graves, "Since I don't think anybody will be able to tell by looking at him."

"We'll use dental records; if we can track them down." Said Barnaby, "Tell me—how well did you know the deceased—assuming that it is Mister Eridanus?"

"Oh, not that well, I'm afraid. He was just a neighbour. In fact, it was a bit out of the blue that he offered to collect my mail—I'd never really had any dealings with him before that."

"So you didn't use him for insurance?"

"No, few people do these days; not after..." She stopped.

"Yes?" Prodded Barnaby.

"I don't want to get anyone into trouble..." She said awkwardly, "But Star Insurance—that's what he and Mr Muliphein call themselves—did have rather a falling out with a young lady a couple of doors down. Xanthe Greenwood. She was insured with them you see. Well, her fish pond over flowed due to something or another, water everywhere! It killed all her roses, and flooded her cellar."

"And how does this relate to the insurance?" Asked Tom, being able to make a pretty good guess.

"Well they refused to pay her claim! There was a dreadful barney about it! She said that she'd take them to court!" Said Miss Graves conspiratorially.

"She was very angry about it then?"

"As angry as I'd ever seen her." Nodded Miss Graves, "She's such a nice young lady usually—but this time she was furious!"

"This Xanthe Greenwood, is she about so high with crinkly blonde hair?" Asked Barnaby.

"That's the one."

"Right, Any other enemies?"

"Not that I know of." Said Miss Graves, "Although I think there may be _some _other trouble, just before I left on my holiday I was walking past and I heard him yelling at someone over the phone, something about something being done, I didn't catch exactly what."

"Well thank you. Thank you very much Miss Graves." Said Barnaby, "You'd better return to your house; we may wish to speak to you again."

"By all means, Chief Inspector, but do please bring my mail over if you find it. Good night to you, and good luck."

* * *

><p>"The river's flowing well today." Commented Ella, as they arrived at the strongly moving watercourse. The other's nodded in agreement.<p>

"We usually check that all the Holts and nests are all hidden and accessible." Faye explained to Keely, "It's not really part of our duties, so we don't use our powers for it."

"Okay." Said Keely, nodding. Spotting a long hollowed out log covered by wild rose, she asked, "That looks like one of them."

"Yes." Nodded Lucy. "And there are three more around here. But this one seems fine—let's check the others." It took them about thirty minutes to complete their task, carrying sticks and other natural debris over to the holts to blend them in a bit more. And in that time, much to Keely's delight, they had seen a family of badgers, and a water vole.

Presently, Allegra turned to Keely, "Why don't we show off our magic now?" She suggested.

"Umm, okay." Agreed Keely shyly.

"Great! I'll go first." Announced Allegra.

"Why should you go first?" Ella asked.

"'Cos I said so first." Said Allegra sticking out her tongue, "Wind be with me!" At her words a breeze formed and swirled around like a twister, getting stronger as it went. "Wind be gone." Said Allegra and the willy-willy dispersed.

"My turn now!" Said Lucy and Robyn in unison,

"Fire be with me!" Called Lucy.

"Shield be with me!" Robyn commanded.

Lucy's fireball hit Robyn's shield and exploded in a shower of sparks. Keely watched as Lucy fixed the falling sparks with a look of intense concentration, "Stop." At Lucy's command the sparks stopped dead in mid-air, "Be gone!" She finished and the sparks disappeared into nothingness.

Keely stared at Lucy with disbelief, "You stopped them!" she spluttered at last, "In mid-air!"

Allegra nodded, "Lucy has all sorts of unusual powers." She explained. She briefly told Keely about Lucy being the last of the summer spirits, and the powers that she had acquired from it.

"Though, I'm not very good at controlling my other season powers yet." Lucy admitted.

Keely, though, was far from phased, "Wow. That's amazing! Can I see some more?"

"Sure." Nodded Lucy, "But first it's Ella's and Faye's turn."

Ella grew a blue-bell, then made it disappear, and then seemed to make it reappear by using her higher powers. And Faye made it rain, and then froze the droplets where they hit the ground, making an odd ice formation.

"Your turn now, Keely." Said Faye kindly.

Keely felt nervous, following on from the other's performances, but nodded, squinting in concentration. "Okay then… Snow be with me." she said. A snow storm brewed over the clearing, and swirled around in an ever tightening spiral before vanishing as the flakes touched the ground.

"Great!" The other's praised her.

Keely grinned, feeling rather relieved.

"Your turn now again, Lucy." Robyn said.

"Alright, I'll try spring first. Plants be with me, clover grow!" A patch of clover grew in a square shape, their three leafed heads bobbing merrily. "I did it!" Squeaked Lucy in surprise. "I grew a perfect patch of clover."

Allegra hugged her with excitement. "Now try some wind."

"Right, Wind be with me!" a soft wind blew and began to swirl gently around, but then Lucy's concentration slipped, and the breeze sprang up to hurricane force, sending Keely stumbling back into the river behind her.

"Wind be gone!" Lucy gasped and ran over. "Oh I'm so sorry, Keely." She apologised, helping her out.

"N-no worries." Said Keely, her teeth chattering. "J-just g-getting closer to m-my element."

"Here, let me use my summer magic to help dry you off." She offered.

"T-thanks." Keely smiled.

"Warmth be with me." Said Lucy, and in no time Keely was perfectly dry. With both their business and pleasure at the river concluded, they flew back to the clearing.

"There you are, girls!" Joanna called as they flew in.

"Oh no! Here we go again." Robyn muttered.

"Are you taking it easy and saving your energy for the second day of the festival tomorrow?"

"Of course we are." Allegra replied sweetly.

"Is there anything else we can do, Mum?"

"Just..."

"Jo, you're not terrorizing them again are you?" Asked Xanthe coming over.

"No, just making sure that they're not doing too much and wearing themselves out..." Just then she spotted Padma, one of the older spirits who was supposed to be doing a talk on wild dogs the next day at the festival, "I've got to go." She said and ran off.

"Xanthe, Guess what! I grew a perfect patch of clover!" Lucy said proudly.

"That's great; you'll be able to use those other powers in no time."

"And Keely can control her powers brilliantly." Said Faye, Keely smiled at her.

Xanthe looked pleased again, "That's great, Keely." She enthused, "We'll I must keep going; I need to talk to Samantha and Rebecca. So see you."

"Bye." The girls called after her.

"Now what should we do?" Asked Ella.

"Well I suppose we should stay around here, since Joanna asked us to." Keely replied, looking a little miffed.

"Oh, don't worry about, Mum." Robyn breathed easily, "She's just obsessed with the festival."

"You see, Joanna's the one who organized it all." explained Faye.

"Ah, that makes things a bit clearer." Keely admitted as they wondered across to the other side of the clearing where Faye's sister, Lizzie, and her friends, Charlotte, Isabella and Georgia were playing tick.

"Hi guys!" Said Lizzie as she looked over and saw them. She flew over, "Were you guys grounded by Joanna too?"

Lucy nodded, "More or less."

"Why don't you play tick with us?" Charlotte asked.

"Sure." Ella agreed. Faye groaned.

"What is tick?" Asked Keely.

"It's just like Tag that you play at school, only you can fly." Said Allegra with a grin, then seeing Faye's face she added, "But let's make it more interesting by making it 'Magic Tick'?" Faye perked up a bit at that.

"How do you play?" Asked Georgia.

"You can use your powers to help you, either to catch people or to help you escape. But no 'stopping'." She added, winking at Lucy who blushed.

"Sounds like fun." Keely agreed.

"It is." Ella confirmed. "How 'bout I be on?" In response the other nine girls scattered into the sky, leaving Ella to dart up after them.

* * *

><p>As the sound of a ringing mobile rang through the house, Detective Sergeant Ben Jones blindly stuck a hand out of the covers in an effort to find the source of the offending noise. Unfortunately, by the time that his hand finally closed around the insulting piece of equipment, he was already far too awake to just kill the noise and drift back to sleep, and so he resolved to answer it instead.<p>

"DS Jones." He grumbled.

"Jones!" Responded the voice of Ben's DCI, sounding far too cheerful for the hour of the morning.

"Sir." Acknowledged Ben, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"About Four AM if my watch isn't mistaken." Responded Barnaby dryly. "Get yourself down here at once."

"What? But I thought you were on holiday in Devon." frowned Ben.

"I am, but there's been a murder down her, and the Inspector from Exeter hasn't arrived, so..."

"But I'm not going to be there for hours!" Pointed out Ben.

"What are you planning to do instead? Sit at a speed camera? Come on, it'll be good for you to get out and about a bit."

Ben sighed, he no more particularly wanted to go to Devon at the moment than Iraq, but an order was an order, and besides, he deeply respected Tom Barnaby, and if he wanted his help, he was honour bound to give it. "I'll be down as soon as I can." He promised.

"Good." Replied Barnaby, "I'm on Flora Avenue in a little town near—"He broke off.

"What's the matter, Sir?" Asked Ben, sitting up a little straighter in bed. But a moment later he heard it too. A loud rhythmic thudding was transmitting across the line. "What is that, sir?"

"A force five Hurricane by the sound of it." Barnaby responded, "I'd better go—I'll talk to you later." he finished before snapping the phone shut.

* * *

><p>Tom tucked the phone into his pocket and walked across the lawn, just as at the end of the street a set of bright car lights turned onto the road.<p>

The loud thudding was quickly resolved to be what Tom could call nothing else but 'doof-doof' music, which was coming from the vehicle, and moments later, the bright red convertible screeched to a halt right outside the gate.

The horrible music stopped, and out stepped a man with thick black hair, and pale skin. He wore an extremely fine textured wool suite, and though it was still dark, thick Polaroid sunglasses that completely hid his eyes.

"Who on earth is that?" Tom asked Rebecca as she came up alongside him, Robert meanwhile walked over to greet the new arrival.

"That would be Detective Inspector Jason Foundry I'd say sir." Said Rebecca, reading from her notebook, "That's who CID said they were sending, and it's certainly no one from around here."

"Oh." Said Barnaby, sounding slightly put off, "I thought he was the real-estate agent."

Rebecca snorted, but before she could respond, Robert had begun speaking to the new comer. "Detective Foundry? I'm Sergeant Evans and—"

"Yes, so you're the local plods are you?" Said the man, rudely cutting PS Evans off, and pushing past him. The inspector strode arrogantly through the gate and up towards the house, he leered at Rebecca as he passed her and then turned to Barnaby, taking in his light jacket and working pants. His lip curled with distaste. "And what is this here?" He asked no one in particular, "Some sort of Country Bumpkin?"

Tom looked at DI Foundry sourly, "That's Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby." He said, "Causton CID, and you might get along better addressing me as 'Sir'."

If Tom thought that Foundry might be abashed, he was sorely mistaken, "The only thing I'd dress you in is a decent suit!" Said Foundry nastily, "Now does this look like Midsomer? No! I have jurisdiction here Barkaby, and this is my case, now take the train!"

Tom blinked, "Well do you at least want to hear the witness statement from the woman who found the body?" he asked.

"I will hear statements from everyone involved in this case in due time, Barney." Said Foundry arrogantly, "But I don't need to hear them from you!"

Barnaby made no effort to hide his irritation. "I don't know what they teach people down here in Devon, but in my experience, being rude to other people is not a good way of encouraging them to help you."

"I don't need your help; anybody's," Said Foundry with pride "And I certainly don't _want _it."

Barnaby shrugged and turned to a gobsmacked Robert, "Well good luck with finding out who did this." He said, "Unfortunately, with a _prick_ like this heading the investigation, it's perhaps not that likely." With a last glare at the smug looking Foundry, Barnaby turned and stomped away.

"With respect, Sir." Spoke up Robert, "I think that you should have accepted DCI Barnaby's help."

"Oh do you, P_'C'_ Evans?" Asked Foundry menacingly, "Well, let me get this perfectly clear; this is my case, we will do things my way! You don't get a say in it. If you'd done your jobs properly, I wouldn't be wasting my time here. So that means that everything you find comes directly to me. And you two don't discuss anything amongst yourselves. _I'm_ the detective here, so you'll bring all matters to _my_ attention.

"You country plods aren't to be trusted with any kinds of decisions anyway." He finished, turning back to the front door.


	4. Inspector Foundry Makes a Little Speech

**CHAPTER-THREE**

**IN WHICH INSPECTOR FOUNDRY MAKES A LITTLE SPEECH**

Carol lay asleep in bed, usually she didn't hear her husband come home, but she sure did this morning; he bumped about tiredly and distractedly. Carol tried not to let herself wake up too much—she was still planning on getting some more sleep, but to her surprise, he came over and shook her arm.

"Carol, Carol, Get up, I need to speak to you and the kids." He said.

Carol, who was more than a little confused by his behaviour, sat up. "What is it?" She asked.

Robert bit his lip, "There's been a murder." he said at last.

"A what?" Exclaimed Carol, springing out of bed.

"A murder, just down the street."

"But, but... who was it?" She managed at last.

"That Insurance fella, Sirius Eridanus." He replied.

"But that's only a few doors up!"

"I know. That's why I want to have a talk with the girls about it." He said grimly.

* * *

><p>Lucy had only been home for a few minutes when she heard footsteps on the landing, followed by someone opening her door. She snapped her eyes shut and tried her best to act as if asleep.<p>

"Lucy." She heard her mum whisper urgently, Lucy let her eyes flicker open. "Lucy, we need you to get up."

"Wha— Why?" Asked Lucy feeling curious while trying to act sleepy.

But Carol was already hurrying out of the room, and apparently did not hear her. Feeling even more curious than before, Lucy quickly got up and put on her dressing gown. In the next room, she could hear her mum waking up Rachel, closely followed by a good deal of whining.

Lucy walked out of her bedroom, still trying to look half asleep by staggering and squinting. She was probably exaggerating far too much, and in hindsight it was fortunate for her that her mum and Dad were more worried about the news that they had to break to them.

She made it down to the foot of the stairs first, Hope, her eldest sister, was really tired from the party that she'd been to that evening—from which she hadn't gotten home until late; and Rachel's grumbling was audible from the bottom of the stairs, so she was probably taking a lot longer than she had to out of spite.

Lucy walked into the kitchen to see her dad sitting anxiously at the table, still in his police uniform. He didn't have to tell Lucy to sit down, she had the impression that whatever they were about to be told, it was pretty important, so she slipped into her chair at the table quietly.

A moment later, her mum, Hope and Rachel came in to join them, the two older girls were quickly seated as well and joined Lucy in looking expectantly at their father; Carol remained standing and slowly paced up and down behind them all.

Robert took a deep breath and began. "Your mum and I have brought you down here because of a very serious matter." He paused to make sure everyone was listening before he continued, "There's been a murder in the village."

Lucy could only stare at him as complete shock settled over her. All at once she felt her heart skip a beat, her mouth dry whilst her brain whizzed as she struggled to digest what she had just been told.

"Somebody's been killed?" Hope stammered eventually.

"I'm afraid so."

Even Rachel who usually had something to say about everything was silent.

"W-w-who?" Lucy stuttered at last.

Robert looked hesitant for a moment, but then spoke "Mr Sirius Eridanus. You know, that fellow up in Rose cottage?" Lucy nodded, feeling slightly relieved that it wasn't someone she knew better.

"Who found him?" Carol asked, pausing her pacing for a moment.

"Miss Graves, it appears that she just got back from her trip and went to visit." Robert answered. "Look, we don't really know any more, but I don't want any of you going out on your own for the moment, Okay?" He asked, looking firmly at the three girls. Beside him, Carol nodded in agreement.

Lucy, Rachel and Hope nodded.

After several seconds of silence, a sudden thought struck Lucy. "Can I still go to the Wildlife Festival tomorrow?" she asked, wondering of Allegra had heard the news, probably not. She saw her mum and Dad look hesitant, "I'll be with Xanthe and Allegra the whole time." She added pleadingly.

"Okay," He mum agreed at last, nodding, "But make sure you're with Xanthe and Allegra the _whole_ time." She conditioned sternly.

"I will." Promised Lucy.

"Good." Said her father.

* * *

><p>It was a beautiful morning on the second day of the Wildlife Festival. The sun was bright, the temperature was pleasant, and a light breeze blew across the village.<p>

Lucy awoke early, the words of her farther tumbling around her head, she still couldn't believe it—someone on their street had been murdered. Someone, somewhere in the village, right now, was a killer. And they had killed Mr Eridanus.

Lucy couldn't really say she'd liked the man; he'd been absolutely horrible to Allegra and Xanthe when their fish pond had overflowed. Say nothing of the day before, but still, the thought that someone had killed him repulsed her. She sat down at her dresser and brushed her hair with a contemplative expression. She frowned as she saw in her mind a dark shape approaching Eridanus with a knife and raise it high...

"Lucy, Sweetie. Are you awake?" Called her mum, breaking into Lucy's thoughts as she gently pushed the door open.

"Yeah." Said Lucy softly.

"Are you okay?" Asked her mum.

"Who would kill someone, Mum?" She asked. She half knew the answer of course; she herself had almost been killed once, by a dark Spirit named Dan. But she understood Dark Spirits, she had felt the power that they sought; it was intoxicating, it had taken all of her strength of character to not join with Maggie when she had offered. It was a power that some would stoop to anything for, even stealing other people's stardust, or murder.

But in the normal world, things made far less sense, the boarders between good and evil were far less defined, and motives of revenge and jealousy made far less sense to her.

"I don't know, Sweetie." Said Carol Evans, "Maybe we never will, but try not to worry about it." She added absently plaiting Lucy's hair and looping it up. "I'm sure that it's got nothing to do with us, and hopefully your Dad will quickly find who did it and then we won't have to worry about it.

"Mmn." Said Lucy, looking at her hair in the mirror—it had been years since she'd worn it anyway other than loose. Her mum kissed her on the top of the head, "Now, when you get to the festival today, make sure you stick around Allegra and your friends, and don't go wondering off. You're much safer in numbers, and stay where there are lots of people—that's safer too."

"Yes, Mum." Nodded Lucy.

First thing after breakfast, Lucy wasted no time in running around to Allegra's. She quickly knocked on the door, which was opened in an instant by Allegra. "I saw you coming." She grinned warmly, "Nice hair by the way. Do you know what happened up the street last night? We saw all the flashing lights, but Xanthe said we should wait until morning, and that we'd probably find out what happened then."

"Someone was murdered up there last night." Said Lucy.

"What!" Gasped Allegra in shock, "Murdered? Xanthe! Did you hear that?"

"What's going on, Allegra?" Called Xanthe as she breezed into the front hall, "Hi, Lucy." She added as she caught sight of her standing on the door step. She turned back to Allegra, "What's the matter?"

"Xanthe, all that noise and lights in the street last night," Gabbled Allegra rapidly, "Someone was murdered!"

Xanthe's eyes widened in shock, exactly mimicking her daughter's earlier expression. "Who?" She asked.

"Sirius Eridanus." Answered Lucy.

"Oh." She said, "How awful. Do they know who did it?"

"No." Said Lucy, "But Dad's on the investigating squad."

"Then I'm sure that they'll find them before long." Said Xanthe with a reassuring smile. "Do you girls still want to go to the festival today?"

"Yeah!" Nodded Lucy, looking to Allegra for confirmation. Her friend also nodded, "We've got to go anyway, to rescue Robyn." She giggled.

Xanthe smiled, "Let's go then; we'll take the car."

It was only a short drive to the village oval where the Festival was held. Up past Rose cottage which had been blocked off with a blue and white striped tape, and past Hyacinth Cottage where Keely and her family where locking up as if they were preparing to walk to the festival.

"I don't understand why someone would want to kill him." Said Lucy for the second time that morning, looking out the window as they turned the corner out of Flora Avenue.

Xanthe's response though was quite different from her mum's, "Well without gilding the lily too much, he was a partner in a dodgy business, and he was a thoroughly unpleasant person—people have been killed for a lot less."

"Isn't that a bit cruel?" Asked Allegra, "He _is_ dead."

"I wouldn't wish anyone dead." Said Xanthe softly, "But let's just say I would be considerably more upset if it was someone else."

She pulled into the oval car park, and parked under a large oak tree, Allegra and Lucy threw their doors open and sprang out. Looking out onto the oval as people carried boxes and crates into the area as they prepared for the second day.

"Oh, Xanthe!" Called a voice, Lucy and Allegra turned around, and Xanthe looked up to see Joanna approaching them.

"What's the matter, Joanna?" Asked Xanthe wearily.

"I've just gotten a call from Mrs Simpson—her car's broken down on the motorway."

"She was doing the talk on Homoeopathy for animals?" Checked Xanthe, rubbing her temples.

"That's right, she's still keen to come, but I've got the Animal Shelter people coming in five minutes—and I can't leave them—"

"Alright." Said Xanthe, holding up her hand, "I'll go get her. But do keep an eye on the girls, Joanna—someone was killed just up the street last night." She added as she got back in the car.

"Killed? Who?" Called Joanna after her as she began to back out.

"I'm sure the girls will tell you all about it." Called Xanthe as she drove off.

"Who was killed?" Asked Joanna, rounding on Lucy and Allegra.

"Mr Eridanus." Replied Allegra, "He was murdered!"

"Oh," Said Joanna, looking after Xanthe who was just turning out of the park, "Oh dear."

"Where's Robyn?" Asked Lucy.

"Huh? Oh, she's helping set out food hall tables." Said Joanna distractedly.

"Great, we'll go and help her." Said Allegra brightly. The two girls charged off, leaving Joanna behind as they vaulted the fence and sped off towards the large eating pavilion.

"I wonder what upset Joanna so much?" Panted Lucy as they slowed to a walk upon arriving at the food area.

"I'd be upset too, if I'd gone to all this effort and someone died during it." Said Allegra, "I mean the police could stop it from going ahead, couldn't they? And it's certainly not a good press statement.

"I guess." Said Lucy, but somehow she thought there was more to it than that. As they entered the open sided food area they spied Robyn, looking dreadfully formal in a white blouse and knee length black skirt.

"Don't ask." Warned Robyn as they approached her, "Mum's press-ganged me into helping serve today. And so I've got to wear this _stuff_."

"You look nice in it." Said Lucy placating. Robyn just sighed.

"We've come to help you with the plates and things." Said Allegra brightly, she lowered her voice conspiratorially as she continued, "And we've got something else to tell you too."

* * *

><p>Tom and Joyce arrived at the second day of the Festival early, parking close to the entrance as they chatted in the car. "I want to know, Tom, why every time we go anywhere, a dead body turns up within forty-eight hours."<p>

"One of the great mysteries of life." Said Tom as he opened his door, "Along with why only one sock comes out of the wash when you put two in."

"Says you who never does the wash." Muttered Joyce. "When is Ben supposed to get here?"

"He might be here already, for all I know." Said Tom, "He should be if he left straight away."

"Poor Ben, you didn't have to wake him up in the middle of the night you know, Tom."

"Probably not." Conceded Tom. They entered the grounds of the fair—Tom noting that Xanthe Greenwood was not at the gate selling raffle tickets as she had been the previous day.

"There's a talk today on Organic farming." Said Joyce, reading her programme, "How would you like to grow a bit of a veggie garden, Tom?"

"And when would I get the time to do that?" Asked Tom.

"Fine, when you retire then." Amended Joyce. "Just think; I could do all my cooking from home grown produce."

"Remind me not to retire then." Mumbled Tom under his breath. He looked ahead to see a man in his early thirties walk out of a side aisle, eating what appeared to be an egg and bacon sandwich. "Jones!" He called out to his detective sergeant.

"Good morning, Sir." Returned Ben, hurriedly swallowing his mouthful, "Good morning, Mrs Barnaby."

"Hullo, Ben." Smiled Joyce.

"Eating healthily I see Jones." Commented Tom, eyeing the roll in his sergeant's hand.

"Mmph, you should try one, Sir—organic free range egg and bacon roll; they're delicious."

Tom resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"So, what did your hurricane end up being last night, Sir?" Asked Jones.

"The hurricane in question drives a red convertible and has a very, _very_ questionable personality." Muttered Tom.

"Tom's been going on about him all morning." Said Joyce ironically, "Seems he's the DI in charge of the case."

"Uh, so the inspector's already arrived, has he?" Asked Ben, "Seems like I've wasted a trip then."

"Not necessarily." Said Tom, "He seems about as competent as six bricks, so I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a conviction."

"You think we should investigate the case... unofficially?" Questioned Ben, "We could get into a lot of trouble for that you know, Sir."

"Yes, I know."

Joyce Smiled, "I'll leave you two whilst I explore a bit then." She said, "Then I can just sit back and tell you both how silly you were when something goes wrong. See you later." She said, giving Tom a kiss on the cheek.

"Glad to know your wife is so optimistic about our success." Said Jones as Joyce disappeared into the gathering crowd. "Oh, and before I forget, Sir, I have some bad news."

"Not more bad news." Groaned Tom, "You're DI results haven't come back yet, have they?"

"I s'pose I'll take that as a complement. But no, not yet, Sir." Said Jones edgily, "No, you remember that firearms training that we were required to do a few months back?"

"Yes..." Said Barnaby slowly.

"Well here's yours, Sir." He grimaced, handing his boss a gun in its leather holster."

"Aw brilliant." Whined Barnaby, taking the weapon distastefully. "Just what I always wanted."

"John Cotton made a request that Midsomer be allowed to trial a compulsory firearms policy. You'll be happy to know that he personally asked me to make sure you received yours." Added Ben with a slight grin, knowing how much his DCI hated the 'Wonderboy' as he had nicknamed him.

"Aw thank you, Jones. That makes me feel so much better."

"I thought it might." He looked around the show around them, "So what exactly _is_ all this, Sir?"

"Oh, I don't know, Jones." Sighed Barnaby, "It seems to me that it's for people who have nothing better to do than stand around talking about dolphins all day."

"They're very beautiful things, dolphins."

"Oh, don't go all conservationist on me, Jones." Pleaded Barnaby.

"No, no. Just saying." Said Jones quickly.

"Excuse me, members of the public." A female voice crackled over the loudspeakers. "Could everyone please make their way to the centre stage on the oval immediately please. We have an important announcement from Detective Inspector Foundry in relation to the disturbance that many of you might have noticed last night."

"Oh, goody." Muttered Tom sarcastically.

"He surely can't be that bad, Sir?" Said Jones.

"No?" You come and listen to this announcement then—see if you still say the same thing afterwards."

* * *

><p>There were quite a few people gathered at the central food area by the time that Jones and Barnaby got there. At one end of the area, adjacent to the large open side dining pavilion, was a fairly small stage, which invited people were using for talks on various things such as Wildlife Carers and so on. The rest of the twenty-by-fifty yard open area was littered with dozens of picnic tables and around and on them were at least a hundred people.<p>

As he and his DCI picked a spot near the back of the space, Jones noticed six girls sitting at a nearby table, talking animatedly amongst themselves. He scanned the crowd for the Detective, catching sight of an odd trio of police men and woman, who were talking to a woman with long chestnut hair and a man in a smart suit. All of them were standing just to the side of the black stage. "So where's this 'hurricane' of yours, Sir?" he asked.

"That's him, with the sunglasses on." Muttered Tom, distastefully, nodding towards the man that Jones had noticed in the suit.

"Him?" Questioned Jones, "I thought he must have been the local Real Estate agent or something."

"S'not a pretty sight is it."

As they were talking, Foundry, turned his back on the people he was talking to, and climbed up onto the stage, followed by the woman. The police officers stood to the side, showing their presence without standing out. The woman walked straight to a microphone on a stand at the front of the platform, "Ladies and Gentlemen." She spoke—the same voice as the earlier announcement. "Due to a tragic incident during the night, Inspector Foundry from Mid-Devon CID is here to talk to us." She indicated the shaded man beside her.

"Tragic that he showed up." Muttered Barnaby.

"Yes." Said Foundry, pushing himself in front of the microphone, "It came to my attention early this morning that one of the members of this community was burned to death last night."

A tangible wave of shock passed through the crowd as Foundry paused for effect. Jones raised his eyebrows, "Well, he certainly doesn't hold his punches, does he?"

"Heh, no."

Foundry continued, "Now it is my belief that he was murdered by someone staying in the village last night, possibly someone on the grounds at this very moment! Therefore I am putting a police blockade around the village; no one is to enter of leave this dump without _my _permission.

"Now, if the murder is listening out there; I _will_ catch you, before someone else gets hurt! For the rest of the community, I need your coöperation! I need your vigilance! Don't take anything for granted! Anything that might pertain to this case, no matter how small, I need you to hand in to _me_! But let it be known, that you should not be paranoid! I need you to BE ALERT, NOT ALARMED! SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED!" He continued grandiosely, raising his hands as if too play to the crowd.

Jones' mouth fell open, "Is this guy for real?" He asked rhetorically.

Foundry continued, "Now, as I'm giving up my valuable time to find this evil in your village, I must demand your complete coöperation! I will be travelling around this community this morning to interview you all! And given the circumstances, I believe that I must commit myself, of achieving the goal, before this day is out, of finding the man responsible, and putting him behind bars!

"To this end, as I said before, everyone must pitch in! You owe it to yourselves; you owe it to your village! You owe it to your country! But most of all YOU OWE IT TO ME! If you do not hand over all relevant evidence at the first, I will assume that you are trying to prevent me from finding the killer, and I shall act accordingly! In other words, if you're no with me! You're against me!"

"My, my." Commented Mrs Thetique, who was standing nearby Tom and Ben, "This young man seems to fancy himself as an American president rip-off."

"More likely he just fancies himself." Said a nearby man with dark curly hair, short beard and a thick Scottish accent.

"Now, now, Mr Achernar." Said Miss Graves, "I'm not really sure that is kind."

Achernar snorted as Foundry continued in the background, "Thare's no way tha' man's going to catch _anything_ 'cept perhaps a cold." he muttered.

"...now," Foundry was saying meanwhile, "As it is common knowledge that members of a small community like this are not as intelligent as other people, allow me to spell out, exactly what constitutes as evidence." He said to a general roar of shock and disapproval from the crowd.

"Who's he calling unintelligent?" Muttered Lucy indignantly to her friends.

"He's going to regret saying that by the end of today." Grinned Allegra, "There are some real smart Alecks in this village."

"At the rate he's going 'round insulting people, he'll be luck to _live_ to the end of the day." Said Ella. Lucy grinned, and was about to reply, when Achernar Muliphein shouted from just across the area.

"Yeh'r a fine one to talk about intelligence!" He said in his Scottish accent, "Most people would agree that it's not a very good idea ta ins'lt those tha'cha want ta help yeh!" This statement was met by a roar of laughter from the crowd.

"Ah, shall we sell tickets?" Asked Barnaby, rubbing his hands together.

"An' while we're about it, why don't yeh go and tell us who et is 'oo topped it las' night; since yeh, _oh so intelligent_ mind neglected to tell us that!" Another round of laughter.

Foundry adjusted his tie awkwardly, "Hmph, I think that you simpletons, are below such knowledge." He grunted out, as Barnaby's smile deepened at the inspector's predicament. "However, since unfortunately, police protocol says you must be told, for your information, the victim's name is Sirius Eridanus."

Lucy watched Achernar's eyes widen in surprise at this bit of information. The curly haired man sat down heavily on an unoccupied bench.

"He seems particularly upset." Whispered Keely to the other girls, "Where they good friends?"

"They were business partners." Whispered Faye back softly.

"They're names are Sirius and Achernar," Added Lucy, "So they called themselves Star Insurance."

"Makes you kind of resent association with stars, doesn't it." Said Robyn, Lucy nodded with a grin.

"Hmh!" Said Inspector Foundry, with the air of someone who had just vanquished a great foe. "Now then, I will make another announcement once I have captured the weevil responsible. That's all for now." He finished, stepping away from the microphone.

"Wow." Said Jones, blinking, "He's very..."

"Detestable." Finished Barnaby, "Yes, I didn't think he'd be any better in the morning."

* * *

><p>As soon as Foundry stepped down from the platform, he rounded on Joanna. "Right, we need to talk about this festival of yours." He said.<p>

Joanna frowned, "What about it?" she asked.

"The only reason that I'm letting you keep running this side show is so that we can keep all the village nuts happy." He said with a pained expression, as if he would like nothing better than to shut it down.

"What? This is hardly a side show—this was a very difficult event to organise!" Said Joanna angrily, "And those are my friends that you're calling 'nuts'."

"To each their own." Said Foundry haughtily.

"What's with your problem with villages?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here!" Countered Foundry, "I don't have any problem with villages, they're just not worthy of my attention."

"What? You're saying that a villager's life is less important than a townie?" Asked Joanna in outrage.

"Of course, people in the towns and cities make things happen. Now, what was your opinion of the deceased?"

"Of Eridanus?" Asked Joanna, "I didn't really have much association with him. But from what I have experienced, he was a miserly and unpleasant person."

"Ah ha!" Said Foundry, triumphantly, "So you have motive!"

Joanna frowned, "Look, if I killed everyone that I found annoying, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

It took Foundry a moment to process that insult, but when he did, he gave a look that could have frozen the sun. "I would appreciate it if you could keep your opinions to yourself while we're having a murder interview."

Joanna was going to point out that he was hardly in a position to talk, but thought better of it, "Well, what else do you want to know?" She asked instead.

"I what to know everything you _do_ know about Mr Eridanus. What did he do?"

"What did he do? He was an insurance broker. He had an office here in the village that he ran with Achernar Muliphein."

"And who's he?" interrupted Foundry.

"He's the one that made you look like an idiot." Said Joanna irritably.

"Him? He didn't make me look like an idiot, merely himself." Said Foundry, then he added proudly, "Anyway, I showed him."

"Uh, right." Said Joanna, not quite sure how to respond. "Anyway, Mr Muliphein is the quieter of the pair, I gather he tends to do the behind the scenes stuff, while Eridanus did the talking to people; though I'm not quite sure why they had that particular arrangement..." She finished dryly.

"Hmm, well I'll have to go and teach him some proper manners if nothing else." He said, "Maybe I could arrest him for contempt of the law..."

"Can I go yet?" Asked Joanna impatiently, "I've got a million things to do..."

"Which are more important than assisting _me_ find the murderer? I don't think so. Tell me about this monstrositious waste of time, then?" Asked Foundry, waving an arm at the rest of the festival, "Why are you running it?"

"Oh, it's not a waste of time, Inspector Foundry." Started Joanna, "It's something that myself and several other people have been organising for more than a year.

"Several people that I've met over the years and I were all worried about the increasing carelessness of people—and the effect it was having on the wildlife. So we decided to run an event to raise awareness, and also for people of like-minded views to meet each other and see how other people were going about their goals. Then we decided that rather than a conference in some convention centre, we would have a festival with stalls from groups interested in conservation, it also has the benefits of being more interesting to the public—"

"Yeah, yeah, very interesting." Foundry cut off sarcastically. "So you and a whole lot of other tree-huggers are trying to turn a whole lot of the public into tree-huggers."

"We're not in the business of chaining ourselves to trees." Glared Joanna. "Our goals are to work with people to try and make a difference to the environment..."

"Whatever, the distinction is not relevant to the case, so who cares."

Joanna glared further but didn't say any more.

"Well, I think we're finished for the moment, Jackson, but stick around, I may need to talk to you again." Said Foundry, dismissing her with a flick of his finger.

"I'm afraid my daughter and I are living in the town," Said Joanna, daring him to say that she couldn't go, "But I'll still be needed for the festival for the next few days." Without waiting for him to respond, she turned and walked away.

* * *

><p>Allegra watched the man known as Detective Inspector Foundry with derision as she and her friends rode the medium sized Ferris Wheel that had been brought along for the Festival. "Do you think that he's really that dumb, or is he just pretending?" She asked thoughtfully.<p>

"Who?" Lucy frowned.

"Inspector Foundry."

Her friends giggled, "Inspector Doofus." Said Robyn, "I don't think he would be capable of pretending to be that dumb."

"He hardly seems like the acting type." Lucy agreed.

"Unless he's really, really good at acting." Allegra grinned.

"I wonder how he became an inspector?" Asked Ella, "You have to do a whole lot of competency training and all sorts of stuff."

"I suppose he could be good academically." Said Faye quietly.

"It doesn't really make much difference." Said Keely, "We're stuck with him either way."

Their gondola on the Ferris Wheel sunk below a line of stalls, people on the ground waved at them and the occupants of the other gondolas as they neared the ground. "It's so hard to believe, that someone here's been murdered." Said Faye as they waved back, "I couldn't imagine anyone in our town being a murderer.

"You don't see what people get like at _The Swan_." Muttered Ella, "The amount of people that Mum and Dad have to throw out..."

"Do you live near a pub?" Asked Keely.

"Mum and Dad own the one in our village." Answered Ella, "We live in the apartment above it."

They started climbing again as the wheel kept spinning, and soon where looking out over the festival again. Foundry had teamed up with Rebecca now, and was striding through the festival, smitten with his own importance, while Rebecca followed far more sedately behind.

"Poor Rebecca." Said Allegra, "I'd hate to be in her shoes at the moment; having to follow around after that guy taking notes for him."

"Hey, at least we should be able to find out what's happening in the case." Said Lucy brightly, "We'll just have to listen while she's talking to the other adults."

"What about your dad?" Asked Faye.

Lucy frowned, "He probably won't tell us anything." She said, "He'll just say that we shouldn't worry about it. He never tells us stuff about work usually... Although he did this morning..." She trailed off.

"Your Dad's a policeman?" Asked Keely in surprise.

"Yeah, a police sergeant." Said Lucy proudly, "And Rebecca as well, did you meet her last night? She's a stardust spirit too."

"How many people are in this police station?" Asked Keely.

"Just three." Said Lucy "They're more sort of a presence thing; the main station is in town."

"But nearly all of them are from something to do with Stardust? Weird." Said Keely with a shrug.

"There they go." Said Robyn, pointing out Foundry and Rebecca who were wondering through the festival, Foundry bundling up people for seemingly random interrogations, "I suppose they'll be able to speak to everyone they need to at the festival. Mum did a good job of getting everyone to turn up at least..."

"Do you suppose Xanthe will be able to get back in?" Asked Allegra suddenly, "Doofus said that he'd blockaded the town."

"Well, he couldn't have done it when he said he had." Said Ella.

"Why not?"

"Because all four of them were at the festival."

* * *

><p>"Right." Said Foundry as he stalked up to the three uniformed police, "You two." He barked, pointing at the two males, "You go and find out how many people the blockade's stopped."<p>

"Uh, sir, there isn't a blockade." Said Sergeant Evans.

"What do you mean there isn't a blockade?" Exclaimed Foundry, "I told you to set one up!"

"Actually," Said PC Kayle, a somewhat unremarkable young man with light brown hair and blue eyes, "You said to set up the blockade, and then later you said that you wanted us all at the announcement, and the Sarj was telling you about how we couldn't man both, and you—"

"Silence!" Snapped Foundry, "Look, I don't know what you country people think about this, but let me tell you this! A murder is a serious business, and you'd better snap to attention if we're going to catch the man responsible!"

"Or woman."

"What?" Asked Foundry, rounding on Sergeant Evans.

"Or woman. The murderer could be a woman too."

"Pah, women don't have the guts for murder." Rebuffed Foundry, the three other officers looked at each other in bemusement, "I'm not sure whether to be insulted or not..." Muttered Rebecca.

"Right." Said Foundry, continuing, "You two go immediately and set up the blockade." He snapped at Evans and Kayle, "You! He pointed at Rebecca, "You're taking notes for me!"

"Wouldn't I be more useful in the blockade...?" Started Rebecca.

"Are you refusing, PC Chambers?" Asked Foundry menacingly.

"Uh, no. No, no, no. Not at all."

"Good." He said, turning back to glare at the two policemen. With a helpless glance at each other, they both shrugged and headed off towards the car park. "Now," he said, glancing slyly at Rebecca, "Let us go, Sweetie."

"I'm not a Sweetie." Snapped PC Chambers, "I'm working with you because I have to, not because I want to. Come on let's get this over with."

Foundry chuckled conceitedly, "Fine." He said.

He wasn't laughing twenty minutes later, several people had come up to him in that time, talking to him about inane things they thought might be important; like Eridanus having worked on his garden on the morning of his death; or that they had been woken up in the middle of the night by suspicious sounding doof-doof music being played by a passing red car; or that they'd seen someone mouthing off about scary nonsense that didn't seem to make any sense at the festival that morning...

"Is this whole town full of morons?" Whined Foundry as they made their way around an empty Moorland Pony stand. Before Rebecca could answer, he spotted the next victim of his interrogation, "You!" He barked at a man, "What's your name?"

"Adam Avencoft." Replied the man, "I'm the local General Practitioner." He added, forestalling the next question.

"Ah, a doctor." Said Foundry with distaste, "You treat Sirius Eridanus?"

"I might have."

"And being a doctor, you would have done chemistry, and would have a knowledge of how to start fires and all sorts of things."

"I probably would, so?"

"Well, Sirius Eridanus was burnt to death last night. What do you say to that?"

"Well, I could think of more pleasant ways to go."

"Hmm." Muttered Foundry, "Well, did Eridanus consult you?"

"Well, not usually, no." Said Adam, "He usually went up to visit the one in town, but I saw him a dozen or so times a year..."

"Well, I'll need to see all those files." Said Foundry, "I want them within an hour."

"Fine, I guess I could do that. Just pop around when you need them."

"Certainly not! You bring them around to me, I'm a busy person!"

"Well then you'd better bring a warrant around to me then."

"What?"

"If _you _want to be difficult, then I can be too—I know my rights, and the rights of my patients, you can't force me to hand over any of those records. Not unless you front up with a warrant anyway." Smiled Adam lazily.

"Don't worry, I will." Foundry assured him, not in a nice way. Then before Adam could say something else, he turned around and stalked off, pulling Rebecca behind him.

"Mr Foundry, Sir!" Said a voice behind them.

The policeman rounded on the young man, "That's Inspector Foundry." He thundered.

"Yes, sir." Wilted the man, then brightening up again, he said, "I know where you can find what you seek, Sir!"

"What? You think you can solve my investigation?" Sneered Foundry, moving to turn away.

"No, really, Sir." Foundry half turned back to listen, "I heard that they have brains for sale at that science shop in the town!"

Rebecca tried to disguise a laugh as a cough and failed badly. "Why you little..." Foundry turned back to the man who'd launched the insult. The young man grinned and bolted, Foundry angrily ran after him, but lost him in the crowd after the first turn. "If I ever get my hands on him..." He muttered, shooting Rebecca a withering look as he swept past.

"Let's go," He said without looking at her, "I've had enough standing around being accosted for no reason. It's time to go and see this Eridanus' Insurance business—see if he's better at keeping books than staying alive."

* * *

><p>"I can' see a man like that prepared to let us help with the investigation, Sir." Said Jones as they watched Foundry and PC Chambers climb into one of the Patrol Cars and drive off, "Particularly given how he was speaking to some of the people who were, uh, 'helping' him."<p>

"No. In fact he was most displeased about me even taking a statement from the lady who found the body before he got there." Barnaby drawled.

"What did she say?" Asked Jones.

"Couple of leads, said that Sirius Eridanus wasn't the most popular of people, due to some argument he and his partner had with a lady in the village over insurance."

"Sounds promising, does Foundry know?"

"I wouldn't have thought so." Barnaby mused, "He flat out rejected my offer to give him a copy of the statement."

"Do you think maybe we should go and talk to the woman—just as a matter of interest of course."

"You're not suggesting that we should step on Inspector Foundry's toes, Sergeant?" Asked Barnaby, a knowing smile breaking out. "Such a thing would be most un-polite."

"Exactly."

"But maybe we _could _just happen to speak to her, as a matter of interest _of course_."

"Do we know where this lady lives?"

"No." Said Barnaby, unphased, "No we don't know where Xanthe Greenwood lives, but I _do_ know who to ask."

* * *

><p>"Here we are. Almost there." Said Xanthe as she turned onto the road that would take them into the village. But as they approached the village, Xanthe caught sight of the flashing blue and red lights of a police car, parked across the road. She frowned as she slowed down; the car was right across the road, completely blocking the way into the village.<p>

"What's happening?" Asked Mrs Simpson.

"There was a murder in the village last night." Said Xanthe, trying to see who was manning the roadblock, "But this wasn't here when I came out..."  
>"A murder? Good gracious." Said Mrs Simpson, "I'm glad I'll be leaving tonight."<p>

"I don't think you've got anything to worry about anyway." Smiled Xanthe reassuringly, "The person was not very well liked in the village." She pulled to a stop, a few metres from the police car, and sat back as the familiar visage of PC Kayle stepped out.

"Good mornin', Xanthe." He said.

"Morning. What's happening?"

"Oh, this? Weren't you there this mornin'?" Asked the Constable

"No, I've been out to get Mrs Simpson." Said Xanthe, indicating the woman in the passenger's seat.

"Aw, right then. Well the Inspector's declared that no one is allowed in or out of the village until the murderer is caught. Which he says is tonight; if you ask me it's going to be more like Christmas, certainly a week, but anyway—"

"A week?" Said Mrs Simpson, aghast. "I've got to be heading back by lunch time!"

"Sorry, Ma'am. But I'm afraid I couldn't let you in anyway, being 'shut down' and all."

"I'm dreadfully sorry about this, Mrs Simpson." Said Xanthe, silently cursing the unknown detective, "Can I give you a lift somewhere, or something, then?"

"Just drop me off in the town if you could. The breakdown lorry is taking my car back to Glastonbury for repairs, so if you can drop me off in town, I'll take a coach back up there."

"Sure." Agreed Xanthe, reversing and turning around. "Will I be able to get in when I come back?" She called to PC Kayle.

"Well, not technically." Said the young constable, "But I may just be on a toilet break about then, you never know."

Xanthe laughed, "Thanks, I'll see you in a bit then."

* * *

><p>"Ah, here you are, Anna; I was wondering where you were." Said Miss Graves as she entered Anna's general store on the main street of the village. "I looked over most of the fair for you."<p>

"I only went over to find out what the announcement was about." Returned Anna as she bustled about with a price gun, "I'm sorry I did; it's not like we learnt anything."

"No," Agreed Amelia, "I don't know much about policing, but I don't much like this new younger detective—the DCI that interviewed me last night was much more likable... even if he was from Midsomer."

"From Midsomer? What's a policeman from Midsomer doing down here?" Asked Anna.

"Apparently he's on holiday." Started Miss Graves.

"On holiday? These public servants—underworked and over paid."

"Everyone has to have a holiday sometime, Anna. I had a very nice time up in the Lakes District..."

"I've been working nonstop in this shop for the last twenty years, Amelia." Said Ms Thetique, "And I've never felt the need to take a holiday. Now what was it that you wanted today?"

"Oh, I just need to do a bit of a restock." Smiled Miss Graves, "You never realise how much stuff goes off in two weeks unless you go away, Anna."

"I'll take your word for it." Mumbled Ms Thetique. "I suppose you'll be wanting apples then?"

"Granny Smiths please."

Anna bustled over to where there was a large bin of apples and started packing them into a paper bag, "By the way, when are you going to come and pick up all that junk you've got cluttering up my display cupboard?" She asked as she flipped the bag over a couple of times to seal it off.

"Well, I could come and get it any time." Amelia responded, picking up a loaf of bread and putting it on the counter.

"Well if I'm not there, the spare key's under that broken paving stone."

"The paving stone? What about the one in the letter box?"

"I had to move that one," Anna grumbled, "So that flaming doctor wouldn't be able to find it."

"Doctor Avencoft?" Asked Miss Graves, "He's a very nice man."

Anna snorted, "He keeps refusing to give me stronger sleeping pills; I swear he's trying to get me to die from lack of sleep." She said stiffly.

"But why would he do that?" Asked Miss Graves in surprise.

"He has that practice half way to the next village." Said Anna, "But look at my house, right in the middle of town, perfect for a surgery! If I died, he'd be able to buy it and set up shop there."

"Now, now, Anna, I think you're being paranoid... Doctor Avencoft has always been happy out at his little cottage. He's told me so several times."

"Maybe that's just what he wants you to think."

"I heard you had rather an argument with him yesterday."

"Aw, that." Said Anna, "Who told you about that?"

"Joanna did, the dear. I asked her whether she'd seen you, and she said not since the argument yesterday. Well of course, I just had to ask..."

"Yes, of course." Said Anna dryly as she packed some potatoes into a box.

"Poor, Joanna, I do hope that they're going to let her finish the Festival." Said Miss Graves. "I'll have some of your famous Chocolate Buns too, thank you Anna." She added, pointing to the sticky brown pastries.

"Why, do you think they might not?"

"Oh, well you know how these things are, people get ideas that it's disrespectful to keep running these things when someone dies. And if only you knew how hard Miss Jackson had worked, and some of the other people in the s— in the village too. It's been a big project."

"You seem to know an awful lot about the goings on and people in this village, Amelia. What, are you part of some secret society or something?"

"Ah, Anna, if only you had a little more imagination..." Sighed Miss Graves.

"A minute ago, you were accusing me of having too much." Anna grumbled, "Now how many did you say you wanted?" She added, holding up one of her homemade chocolate buns with a pair of tongs.

"Oh, I think about a dozen will do nicely." Said Miss Graves.

Anna raised an eye brow, "Expecting company?"

"Oh no." Smiled Miss Graves.

Anna looked at her strangely for a moment before continuing to fill up the paper bag. A tinkling of the shop bell caused them both to look around as two men stepped into the shop.

"Ah, Miss Graves, I was told that I might find you here." Said Barnaby.

"Ah, Inspector Barnaby." Said Miss Graves with a smile, "This is Anna Thetique, she's runs this store; for the last twenty years she's just now being telling me."

"Ms Thetique." Said Barnaby, "You're very lucky you know, that Doctor Avencoft didn't press charges."

"Pah, I'm sure he has his reasons." Said Anna stonily as she finished putting Amelia's groceries in her bag.

"Oh, this is Detective Sergeant Jones, also form Causton CID." Said Barnaby suddenly after a moment's pause, Amelia rather thought that he had momentarily forgotten that the younger man was there. "We were wondering if you wouldn't be able to give us directions to Ms Greenwood's house?"

"Oh, that's easy inspector, she lives just next to Sergeant Evans over on Flora Avenue." Said Miss Graves cheerfully, "But I believe she's working with the Festival today, Inspector, so why don't you speak to her over there."

"That—" Started Barnaby and Jones at the same time, they glanced at each other, "...could be problematic." Jones finished at last.

"That Foundry is it?" Asked Anna, "I wouldn't be surprised if he'd block help just to spite."

"Oh, it's like that is it?" Asked Amelia excitedly, "Well, she should be back home by 5 o'clock."

"Right, we'll pop around then. Thank you very much Miss Graves." Said Barnaby before both he and Jones took their leave, stepping out of the shop with the same accompanying tingle as their entrance.

"Right, now then, Amelia, how were you going to pay for all this?"

* * *

><p>"Odd couple of people." Said Jones as they stepped out into the fresh air.<p>

"Every village has to have its gossip monger, Jones." Said Barnaby, setting the pace back toward the festival, "And it's always useful to know who it is."

"She didn't like that Doctor Avencoft much."

"No." Tom chuckled, "She pitched a wineglass at his head yesterday, I don't think there's any love lost between them."

Ben winced, "When you said press charges, I assumed that you meant that she'd keyed his car or something—though that might have been worse if he drives a car like most doctors."

Barnaby smiled, "I think, we should go and see the good doctor." He said as they came out of the ally between the shops and the oval behind them, where the festival was. "See if Mr Eridanus had any files with him."

* * *

><p>Star Insurance was run out of a little shop at the end of the main street, just next to the church. There was a small waiting room out the front, maybe six feet back, and the width of the building long. To the left was a corridor with two more rooms opening off it, and another door at the end. As Rebecca and Foundry entered, the nearer of the two offices in the hall opened and Achernar Muliphein stuck his head out.<p>

"Uh, ut's you." He said, "Ah thught chuh might show up later."

"Yes, well." Said Foundry, "I would like to ask what you're doing here when your partner's just died and on a Saturday? A bit suspicious if you ask me."

"Do you realise how much work thar is to do in business when som'one up 'n dies?" Replied Achernar, he sighed, "I 'spose yeh bette' com' in." he stepped back, leaving the door open. Rebecca followed Foundry into the office and gave it a look over.

It was all neat enough, with a desk in the middle of the room—stretching most of the way across, a filing cabinet in one corner, and a line of shelves down the other side. On the desk, there were two document trays and a stack of files with a round glass paper weight on it at one end, and a laptop and an ornate lamp with a green shade at the other, as well as two visitors' chairs pulled into it.

Achernar pulled out the visitors' chairs on his way back around behind the desk, "Dreadful business, this." He said, as he flopped into his chair.

"So I've heard." Said a wry Foundry, casting an eye around the office.

Mr Muliphein glared at him, "'Ah meant the murder!" he snapped.

"Mmm, was it?" Asked Foundry laconically. "I've heard that you and Sirius were close. Maybe he was too close, was that why you killed him, Mr Muliphein?"

"Nothing of the sort." Shot back Achernar flatly.

"Good." Said Foundry, "I hate dealing with Homosexuals." He added under his breath. "Right, so who did you know that had a reason to kill him?"

"Pretty much everyone." Said Achernar, opening a draw under his desk and helping himself to a biscuit. He carefully didn't offer one to Foundry. "Sirius had a habit o' rubbing people up the wrong way.

"Lut's see." He said leaning back in his chair and counting off with his fingers, "The ol' biddy down at the local shop; the lass on Flora Avenue wid' the fish pond; the doctor laddie... who else... Tha' banker nut from up in the town; he'd gotten 'imself barred from _The Clueless Pig_; even I prob'ly had reason to kill 'im, given the fact that he was hopeless with the business finances... Oh, and he went ta try and flog our cover to that Australian lot that just arrived—so he's probably ticked 'em off too, and they've only been in the country a day..."

"Hmph, you're nice for a friend."

"I ne'er said he was a friend, 'e was a business partner, an' I had a working relationship with 'im, bu' I didn' drop 'round on 'is house for lunch on the weekends or noth'n."

"So gimme names of these people that would want to kill him." Foundry pressed.

"Names, Inspector? Have yeh got a month?"

"Well, start with the ones that you already mentioned." Said Foundry impatiently.

"Fine, Thetique o' someth'n, the one in the shop, you can just go in an' talk te 'her anyway; Simon Clett, 'e's the bank manager; an' Greenwood, I mentioned her; I don't know what the Australian lot're called, but they've moved in two up the street from Sirius. Ah yes an' Doctor Avencoft; couldn't stand the man maself, but Sirius spoke highly of 'im. Prob'ly the only thing 'e an' the likes of Ms Jackson ever say aye te aye about."

"What about the doctor couldn't you stand?" Asked Foundry, leaning forward eagerly.

"Put it this way, a few year ago, I went to 'im with a stomach upset, 'h sent me home wi' a Panadol, the next day I wos in 'ospital having my appendix taken out."

Foundry grinned, "I knew there was something off about that doctor." He said.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mr Muliphein, given that as far as I have heard, most of the village isn't insured with you, how are you keeping in business?" Asked Rebecca, a touch hostilely.

"Constable Chambers, I am in charge of the investigation, I am the detective, I will ask the questions." Said Foundry sharply.

"Uh, yes of course sir..."

Foundry leaned a little closer to Mr Muliphein. "So, how are you keeping in business given that the village doesn't insure with you?"

Mr Muliphein smiled slightly as if he had been expecting the question. "The truth is we mostly insure people in the town." He said, "We've got 'bout seventy files all en all—some with multiple policies, which is enough te earn 'us a living.

"And speak'n o' which, if yeh don' mind, I s'pose I bet'r start going through all Sirius' files... U'll never get it so'ted out utherwise." Said Achernar with a sigh.

"Certainly not!" Foundry denounced. "_I_ will be taking Sirius' files and personally going through every one before _anyone else _is allowed to look at them."

"I think you might regre' that, Laddie." Said Achernar.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not a'tall." Said Achernar with a slight grin, "Bu' Sirius didn't really have much 'o a filing sustem. Yeh might wont me teh sort some of et out first."

"No." Said Foundry, "I'm afraid that none of it is to be even _touched_ except by me. No one else can be trusted not to lose some it of something."

"So wha' am I 'sposed tell people when they want to make 'eir insurance claims?"

"That's your problem. Now show us Sirius' Office."

"Suit yehself." Achernar grumbled lowly.

The second office in the building was identical to Mr Muliphein's, but where's Achernar's had been tidy and neat, Sirius' was a disaster area. Paper littered everything, there were stacks all over his desk, most of which had toppled over, making it almost impossible to work out what belonged in which pile. The filing cabinets were so chock full that they couldn't shut properly and there was literally paper spilling off the shelves onto the floor.

"Have fun." Grinned Achernar from the doorway before he disappeared from view.

Foundry wondered into the centre of the room and surveyed the scene with a look of disbelieving dismay. "What was this man? A man or a pig?" He asked, eyeing a mess of papers where they had fallen and scattered on the floor behind the desk. It was fairly obvious that they had been run over with the wheelie desk chair several times. "Right, you." He said, rounding on Rebecca, "Go back to the police station—that's just down the road isn't it?—right, well go back there and get all the boxes you can carry, then get ten more and bring them back here." He said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the mess.

"Yes, sir." Said Rebecca subduedly. She turned to leave.

Foundry stuck out his hand and grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her back around, "And get me a coffee on the way back."

"Yes, Sir." She nodded as she started to leave again. Again Foundry stopped her, "That's white, three sugars."

She turned again, but then half turned back as if waiting for something else.

"Well come on then. Get a move on! I don't have all day!" Snapped foundry, shoving her towards the door. As he heard the tingle of the front door closing, he sank into a chair and rested his head in one of his hands. Peering out through his fingers with a groan as he surveyed the mess.

* * *

><p>It took them two hours to box up all the paperwork, stuffing everything into the boxes that Rebecca had brought down, and then carrying them out to Foundry's car, which they were then going to shift two hundred yards down the road and then unload into the police station. Rebecca couldn't say that it made much sense to her, but Foundry had been insistent that that was how it was going to be done.<p>

"Now I do hope you're going te remember te hand all tha' stuff back when yer finished with it." Said Achernar as he followed them out onto the street.

"We'll see." Said Foundry laconically. "Remember I'm watching you, Muliphein, always watching."

"Fine, Uh'll just direct all my angry customers onto you, then." Said Achernar stonily as he turned and stomped back into his shop.

"What are we going to do now, Sir?" Asked Rebecca.

"What do you think we're going to do, PC Chambers?" Asked Foundry nastily, "We're going to go back to the station where you are going to unload those files while I apply to the CID and get a warrant for that doctor, then we're going to go and start talking to some of these people, like Clett, that Austrian brood, and then we'll go back to the festival—"

"Australian."

"What?"

"They were Australian, not Austrian." Said Rebecca.

"Whatever, they're foreigners, and that puts them pretty much top of my list."

"Yes, sir." Mumbled Rebecca.

"And that's probably all we'll get done today." Said Foundry, "It'll be six o'clock by then."

"Sir, there's been a murder, and you're going to just stop working at six?" Asked Rebecca in shock.

"Hmph, he's just a villager, not worth me wasting my precious time for. And besides, it's not like anyone much is missing him anyway—I'd almost say 'why bother?'. And you can walk." He added, pointing along the foot path while he stroked his car lovingly.

* * *

><p>Adam looked up from his papers as Rebecca thumped up the steps, "Hello," He said subduedly. "You come for the files?"<p>

Rebecca nodded, "He got the warrant, sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." Sighed Adam, taking a brief look out of the window at the sky which was beginning to get a pink tinge to it. With a bit of a grunt, he pushed back from the desk and moseyed over to his filing cabinet, rummaging through it to recover a file labelled 'Eridanus S.'.

"There you go, tell the ol' windbag that that should have what he needs."

Rebecca snorted as she took the file, "Aw, it feels good to be able to do that and know that he's not there to hear me." She grinned.

"Yeah, well, hopefully he'll get what's coming to him." Adam said offhandedly. "What about you, you don't look well, this afternoon."

The small smile that had strayed onto her face faded. "I'm not sure, there was something off about one of the people we spoke to today; I just can't put my finger on what."

"Ah'well, it'll come to you eventually." Adam encouraged.

"You know, Adam, just because you're a doctor doesn't mean that you have to solve everyone's problems." Said Rebecca good-naturedly.

"I know, that's part of being a Winter Spirit." Countered Adam.

Rebecca grinned wryly. "I'd better be getting back, or Foundry will start whinging."

"And we couldn't have _that_." Said Adam dryly, following her onto the stairs outside his consultation room. "Though I would have thought he would either way."

"Maybe."

"See you tonight." He added as Rebecca descended the stairs.

"Yeah." She said, although not completely enthusiastically. Adam frowned as she shut the door behind her. _Something really is bothering her..._ he mused.

* * *

><p>Barnaby and Jones arrived at <em>Willow Cottage<em>, the house of Xanthe Greenwood just as the sun was beginning to touch the horizon. Simultaneously, they both disembarked from the car and moseyed up to the front door.

"Can I help you?" Asked the woman with curly blond hair when she answered their knock.

"I'm Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby from Causton CID, and this is DS Jones." Said Barnaby, both of them producing their warrant cards and holding them up for inspection. "May we come in?"

"Oh, so you're the detectives that have locked down the village are you?" Said Xanthe, eyes narrowing.

"No. That wasn't us." Said Jones quickly, "That was the detective from Mid-Devon CID; we're just helping out in the investigation."

"I see. Well I suppose you'd better come in then." She said, opening the door wider and allowing them in. "Come through to the kitchen. Would you like a cup of tea?"

"No thanks." Said Jones politely as they followed behind her. He and Miss Greenwood stepped into the kitchen, but Tom stopped in the hallway just outside, looking into an ornament cabinet; in particular at a badly cracked glass orb that was the centrepiece.

"You're that policeman from the festival." Said a voice.

Tom looked to the side to see a young girl of maybe eleven, standing a metre or so away. With her curly blonde hair, she could only be Xanthe Greenwood's daughter.

"Yes, I am." He agreed, "I'm Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. And who might you be?"

"I'm Allegra." She said brightly, "Xanthe is my mum."

"I figured, you look very much like her." Nodded Tom. "What's this here?" He asked, pointing at the cracked orb.

"That? Uh, that's a trophy that me and a couple of friends won a few years ago." There was something off about her explanation—but Tom didn't push it, instead he asked, "So what have you heard about what's happening?"

"About the murder? Not much." She replied; sounding put out about the fact, "My friend Lucy—she lives next door— her father is a police sergeant..."

"Sergeant Evans?"

"Yeah, but he won't tell her much about what's happening."

"Unfortunately, we don't know a whole lot yet." Said Tom, "It can take us several days or even weeks to find out who did it."

Allegra made a sour expression. "What a pain." She said.

Barnaby chuckled, "Did you know Mr Eridanus?" he asked.

"Only from when our fish pond overflowed." Allegra scowled, "He was supposed to insure us, but he made some cheap excuse about how it wasn't natural causes, so he wouldn't pay. And then there was yesterday of course..."

"And why did the fishpond flood?"

"See, it's above ground." Said Allegra, walking to the backdoor, and pointing out the window. "One of the rocks fell over and put a hole in the pipe, so there was all the water from the pipe, and everything from the pond itself."

"And what did your mum think about all that?"

"Xanthe was furious!" Said Allegra, "It was the maddest I'd ever seen her, in the end she threatened to take them to court, and Mr Muliphein agreed to pay us, Sirius still wasn't happy about it though."

"What about other people in the village? What did they think about the whole thing?"

"Most people were really upset by it; Xanthe has a lot of friends in the village." Said Allegra, "I don't think anyone much here _liked_ him, except Mr Muliphein... but even he was having some sort of trouble with him." She frowned uncertainly.

"Allegra, you're not pestering the Detective are you?" Called Xanthe, from where she was standing in the kitchen door, Barnaby caught sight of Jones behind her.

"No." Said Allegra.

"She's being very helpful, actually." Said Tom with a smile.

"Good." Said Xanthe, smiling slightly.

"Miss Greenwood," He started, addressing Xanthe, "Miss Graves from up the street said that she was surprised that Mr Eridanus offered to collect her mail for her. Do you know why that would be?"

Xanthe blinked in surprise, "He's never been a very community minded person." She said at last, "Usually he pretty well keeps— kept to himself. Miss Graves usually asked Allegra and I to collect her mail, so I'm not entirely sure why he would have offered... But either way, he did."

"Well thank you very much for your time." He said, giving Allegra a smile, before giving Jones a subtle signal that it was time to leave.

"Yes, if you think of anything else, give me a call." Said Jones, handing Xanthe one of his cards.

"Sure."

Barnaby and Jones walked to the front door with the two Greenwoods right behind them. "By the way, Miss Greenwood," Asked Barnaby as they opened the door, "Nobody seemed to know exactly where you were today. Where were you?"

"One of the ladies coming for the talks at the festival broke down on the motorway, I went to go and retrieve her, but then we couldn't get back into the village anyway, so I took her to the coach station in town."

"How did you get back in?" Asked Jones, Barnaby smiled to himself, much as he hated to admit it, Jones really was ready for the upgrade to Inspector—it would just be a shame to break up the team.

"I reminded PC Kayle that I had a young daughter who was in the village while I was stuck out of it." Said Xanthe, "And he was sensible enough to let me in."

"Yes, the move to shut the town down was perhaps a bit excessive." Agreed Tom, "We'll see what we can do." He turned away, and walked down the path, Jones following just behind him.

"What have I told you before, Jones, about pretty ladies in murder investigations?" Said Barnaby, as they approached the car.

"Sir?" Asked Jones in confusion.

"I saw the way you were looking at her, Jones, I know you far too well. You be careful, 'lright?" Grinned Barnaby as he saw Jones rolling his eyes slightly.

"It was never a problem the previous times." He countered.

"True." Agreed Tom as he and Jones got into the car. "What did you get?"

"She said that this festival thing has been organised by several people in a few of the villages around here and the local town." He said, "I asked her if Eridanus had been objecting to the festival; she said no. I asked if Mr Eridanus had any enemies; she said no one in particular, but he wasn't particularly liked in the village. She didn't know of any other people in his life, he just seemed to work with Mr Muliphein, and that's about all."

"Hmm." Mused Barnaby, "Her daughter told me that he seemed to be having problems with his partner, Achernar. She also told me that he still wasn't very happy about paying up for the fish pond, even after Mr Muliphein agreed to."

"Do you think they could have had a falling out over that?" Asked Jones as Barnaby started the car up.

"Possibly, or maybe, Miss Greenwood herself, everyone I've spoken to says that she was livid about him refusing to pay the insurance, and what with the goings on yesterday."

"With him threatening to blackmail her?"

"Well it sounded very much like that to me." Said Barnaby, driving away from the curb, "By the way, Mrs Barnaby asked me to invite you to dinner with us." He added, sounding indifferent about the statement.

"Be glad to." Smiled Ben, "You know she'll have probably met people who've given her half a dozen other suspects."

Barnaby gave a short smile.

* * *

><p>The sky above the festival was bright orange as it wound down for the second day. Most of the visitors had left by now, and it was mostly just stall holders packing up, and securing things away for the third day. In one of the completely deserted aisles, Rebecca shook as she selected Xanthe's number.<p>

"Hello? Xanthe?" She said, her voice quivering.

"Wrong? ... No, it's not that... look it was what I saw when I was going around... yes... look I know who the murderer is!" She hissed. "No, I don't think I should say it over the phone—there are still people around... No, I'm serious... Look I'll meet you at your place at midnight... Yes, we need to talk about it—" She hung up; as she thought she heard something moving nearby. With a quick, frightened look around, she tucked the phone away and left as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, away in the shadows between two tents, a black gloved hand grasped a guide rope as its owner leaned over to look out into the aisle. As the person saw Rebecca leave towards the car park, it retreated back down the gap between the tents, slipping out into a more populous aisle and becoming an anonymous person in the general confusion of packing up.


	5. In Which Someöne Else Dies

**CHAPTER-FOUR**

**IN WHICH SOMEÖ NE ELSE DIES**

Lucy sat with Allegra on the back decking of Willow Cottage—Allegra's house—looking up at the bright stars. "They look different somehow..." Whispered Lucy, "Almost as if they're upset about something."

"Probably about the _git_, Foundry, invading our town." Said Allegra brightly and they both giggled. At that moment, Keely de-camouflaged herself at the edge of the decking, and landed.

"Hi, Keely." Lucy and Allegra greeted in unison.

"Hello, sorry if I kept you waiting." She said, "Dad was unpacking and kept coming in to ask about stuff."

"At eleven o'clock at night?" Exclaimed Lucy in surprise.

"Yeah." Keely replied with a grin. "Until Mum finally came and convinced him to go to bed."

"What is it with parents tonight? Xanthe's going to be late again tonight, too."

"Again?" Lucy asked in bemusement.

"Yeah, she had to talk to someone or something..."

"That's a bit odd, isn't it?" Asked Keely.

"Nah, quite often she's talking to other people on the phone about Stardust stuff, while everyone else is asleep."

"Have you heard anything more about the murder?" Keely asked apprehensively, Lucy shook her head. "'fraid not, Dad won't say anything about it. He keeps saying that it's classified police business."

"That's unfortunate." Replied Keely with a slight shiver.

"Yes, irritating isn't it." Agreed Allegra dryly, though Lucy thought probably for quite a different reason. "Anyway, we should be getting going to the stardust glade. Why don't we race to the big beech tree—the one that's about halfway there."

"Okay." Keely and Lucy agreed.

"Ready? Three, two, one, go!" All of them cried at once.

When they arrived at the glade, they immediately spotted Faye and Ella, standing near the edge of the clearing. "Hi guys, is Robyn not here yet?" Asked Allegra.

Faye and Ella turned with a start. They'd obviously been thinking about something else and hadn't seen them. Faye giggled, "No, she's just over there." She said, pointing to a large box thistle nearby.

Lucy, Keely and Allegra stared at it in confusion for a second, before Keely smiled, "Oh, I see. You disguised her, Ella." she said, remembering her trick from the previous night.

Ella nodded, "Robyn was complaining about her mum going on about the festival, and said that she wanted to avoid her..."

"So you disguised her as a thistle." Finished Lucy.

"WHAT! A thistle!" Screeched the plant comically. "So that's why I feel like I'm sitting on a pin cushion, said Robyn's voice, "I'm going to get you for this, Ella!"

At that the other five girls laughed and Ella let the illusion fade.

"Ergh, that's better." Said Robyn, her hair standing on end.

"Ah, there you are, Robyn!" Called Joanna, flying towards them, "I couldn't see you before and wondered where you could have gone. But it seems that I just wasn't looking properly. I was wondering if you girls could check on the Dormice tonight, and then come back early." She went on.

"Early again? Aren't we sick of the festival yet?" Asked Robyn

"No. And besides, you can't be too careful with a murderer on the prowl." Joanna answered. "In fact, maybe I should come with you..." She began.

"No! It's okay, we'll be fine." Insisted Robyn quickly.

"Well, okay, if you're sure. But be careful." Joanna pleaded.

"We will." Promised the girls.

* * *

><p>Rebecca sat at her kitchen table, drumming her fingers nervously. She glanced up at the clock again and started: three minutes past midnight; she was late. She hastily stood up and rinsed her glass out, putting it on the drying rack before rushing out of the house.<p>

As she passed through her front door, she paused briefly to turn herself into a stardust spirit, whispering the mantra, 'I believe in Stardust.' three times. She stepped out onto the grass with her now bare feet, and went to take off, but whipped around as she heard something behind her.

"...What are you doing here?" She asked, fearing that she already knew the answer.

Something wrapped around her neck, and she fell to the ground, struggling and sputtering as she tried to relieve the pressure on it, digging her nails under whatever was squeezing. But it all became too much, and she fell limp, her eyes staring into nothing. A dark figure paused briefly over her, before making their way out of her garden, silent as a whisper.

* * *

><p>Well, all seemed fine with the dormice, so the girls were soon back in the clearing, and were just reporting back to Joanna, when Xanthe arrived, looking rather bothered.<p>

"_You're_ late!" Chastened Joanna, but then saw her face, "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Sorry," Xanthe apologized, "I was waiting for Rebecca."

"For Rebecca? Why?"

"She rang me this afternoon and said she had to speak to me." Xanthe replied with a frown, "She wouldn't tell me much over the phone."

"Any idea what it was about?" Joanna asked, matching her frown.

"Well —" Xanthe was cut off by the arrival of Tom, one of the other autumn spirits, along with several others of the 'elders'.

"Hello there, Guys. Who else got a visit today from the inspector of doom?" He asked, "What's wrong?" he added while the girls laughed.

Xanthe glanced down at them in surprise, and Lucy got the strong impression that she had only just noticed that they were there. "Oh, hello, girls." She said distractedly, "Why don't you go and practice your magic or something."

The girls exchanged an indignant look, but did as they were told. "We know when we're not wanted." Allegra muttered bitterly as they walked across the glade.

"I hope Rebecca's okay." Lucy murmured lowly, referring to the earlier conversation, "It's odd that she'd not show up like that."

"Yeah, me too." Agreed Ella.

"Unfortunately, I don't think there's much we could do though." Faye put in quietly.

"Weellll," Started Allegra slowly, "We could always go and see if we could find her."

"What? As stardust spirits? In the village? And with a murderer on the loose?" Snapped Ella. "Are you out of your mind?"

Allegra glared.

"How 'bout a game of tick." Robyn suggested quickly.

"Yeah, great idea." Agreed Faye, she grinned as she added, "Allegra can be it."

_That_ got Allegra's attention. "Not for long!" She declared, shooting Faye a cheeky look before shooting into the air to catch her scattering friends.

* * *

><p>As soon as the girls were out of earshot, Xanthe spoke up, "I'm worried about her, Jo." she said.<p>

"What's this?" Asked Tom.

"Rebecca was supposed to meet me, but she never showed up."

"So, Rebecca definitely said that she'd meet you at your house?" Joanna confirmed.

"Yes. At around midnight." Xanthe replied, "She didn't sound good."

The stardust elders exchanged worried looks.

"I don't like this." Adam murmured, "It's not like Rebecca to fail to let you know if she couldn't make it."

"Maybe I should go and check on her." Offered Laura, a spring spirit.

"I'll go with you." Said Samantha, another winter spirit. "It's safer in pairs."

"Good idea." The others agreed.

"Careful." Said Xanthe, "And come back quickly."

Laura nodded as she and Samantha took to the air.

Flying as fast as they could, they arrived at Rebecca's house within minutes. "I'll knock." Whispered Laura, "You go check 'round the back."

Samantha nodded and flew around the side of the house, camouflaging herself in case anyone happened to look out their window at that moment. She peered in every window she could find, before returning to the front, where Laura was knocking and hissing urgently, "_Rebecca!_"

"Nothing." Whispered Samantha. "She's not here, do you think we could have passed her on the way here—we were both camouflaged."

"Maybe..." Mumbled Laura, but her expression showed what she really thought of that possibility. "Let's go back, something's wrong here."

* * *

><p>"I don't know what we'll do if they don't find her." Said Joanna, pacing up and down.<p>

"Well..." Began Padma.

"Look, here they come." Said Xanthe, pointing out a faint shimmer in front of a wisp of cloud. A few seconds later, Laura and Samantha, swooped into the clearing, both looking distinctly bothered.

"What happened?" Asked Adam, seeing their expressions.

"No sign of her." Said Laura, shaking her head. "And we checked her house, and the forest on the way back here in case she'd landed for some reason..."

"What do we do now?" Asked Samantha.

"I don't think there's anything that we can do." Sighed Xanthe, sitting on a tree root and rubbing her temples.

"Come on, there must be something!" Insisted Laura.

"No, I think Xanthe's right, I'm afraid. We've checked her house and the forest on the way here, and she isn't there. Without searching the whole village there isn't anything we can do." Adam reasoned, "And even then, there's still a chance we might miss her."

"We'll just have to hope that she turns up in the morning." Said Xanthe, resting her head on her fists, and gazing up at the night sky.


	6. In Which There Are No Chocolate Buns

**CHAPTER-FIVE**

**IN WHICH THERE ARE NO CHOCOLATE BUNS**

Elsie Cartwright had long been an admirer of English Cottages, long before they had emigrated from Australia, so moving into a small village with dozens of such picturesque buildings was like a dream come true. Even the idea that there had been a murder in the village didn't prevent her from walking the short distance to the shops.

It was a very pleasant morning, clear and crisp, with only the barest hint of a breeze as she neared the end of their street; the corner house was a very pleasant building with a shale roof, and the next property showcased a pretty little whitewashed cottage.

"What a beautiful garden." Smiled Elsie to herself as she admired the roses of the whitewashed house. Its beautiful lawn was separated from the house by a bed of small cypresses and cyclamens, and from the low white brick wall at the front of the property by a beautiful line of scented roses.

Elsie couldn't help herself, she had to sniff at a pretty burgundy rose growing by the gate, but as she took in the scent, something made her gag:

Lying in the shadow of the wall, pushing against the base of a yellow rose was the body of a thirtyish woman with an ugly red mark around her neck.

Elsie recoiled in horror, recognising her as the police woman from the previous day. With her hands trembling, she reached for her mobile and dialled the police.

* * *

><p>"What?" Asked Lucy, dropping her spoon into her porridge with a splash of milk. "Who?"<p>

"I don't know." Said her mum, "Your dad just said that someone else had been found dead and that he had to go."

"Wow." Commented Rachel, "Someone's obviously lost the plot."

"What do you mean?" Asked Lucy.

"Well," Said Rachel with a slight smile, "With all these nasty murders, it's obvious that there's a madman in the town." She continued at a whisper, "And he's going around bumping us off one by one, you might even be next, little sister..."

Lucy shivered.

"Rachel!" Thundered Carol. "That's enough! There is a perfectly logical reason behind these murders, which I'm sure has nothing to do with us, and the police will catch them. Stop scaring your sister!"

Rachel hmphed, and went back to eating her porridge.

"Right, then, girls." Said Carol to her two older daughters, "Are you two ready? I'll drop you two off and then I'll come back to take Lucy to the festival."

"Sure, I'm ready." Said Hope, standing up and grabbing her purse off the kitchen table.

"I'm not." Grumbled Rachel, dropping her spoon into her breakfast, and pushing it away a little harder than was strictly necessary.

"Rachel." Sighed their mum exasperatedly. "Go and get your jacket."

"How long are you going to be?" Asked Lucy.

"Only about fifteen minutes." Said Carol, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Come on then." She said to Rachel and Hope, ushering them out of the kitchen.

"See you, Lucy."

"Yeah, see ya." Said Lucy quietly after them...

* * *

><p>"Just great." Sniffed Foundry to Robert Evans who was putting up crime scene tape while the paramedics cleared Rebecca's body. "She was supposed to be at the station working on the investigation." He told him as if it was all the dead woman's fault.<p>

"I'm sure it wasn't her idea." Said Robert stiffly as he tied the end off.

"Oh shoosh, PC what's your name." Foundry dismissed. "Now what did she die of?" He snapped at the Paramedics as they loaded her into the ambulance.

"You'll have to wait for the coroner for the full report." One of the medics said, "But she was defiantly strangled recently, so I'd put that as cause of death."

"Strangled. Wonderful. So now we have a strangler on the loose as well as an arsonist."

"What makes you think that they were different people?" Asked a voice from behind them. Foundry was very unimpressed to see Tom Barnaby standing on the footpath.

"Oh. You." Grumped Foundry. "What are you doing here? Did I not make it abundantly clear that your presence was not wanted in this case?"

"I thought I'd offer my help again since the situation has changed somewhat." Said Barnaby amiably.

"The situation has not changed." Snapped Foundry angrily. "Has this village changed to Midsomer's jurisdiction? No. Now get lost, Bonkaby."

Barnaby shot him an angry look, "That's Barnaby if you don't mind." He said

"I do mind, now get lost."

Barnaby sighed, "Fine, but you're never going to catch this guy if you don't start thinking about how this village works." He said irritably.

"Would you get outta here!" snapped Foundry, turning back to the crime scene, and thus missing the helpless look that was exchanged between Robert Evans and Tom Barnaby.

"Right, you!" Snapped Foundry at Robert, "Go to that doctor fellow and tell him we want every file he has on Chambers."

"Shouldn't we wait until we've gone through all of the Star Insurance files, and Eridunas' medical records first?" asked Robert, "You can't even get into the store room with all that stuff in it; I don't know how we'd get anything else in."

"We will build a new store room!" Thundered Foundry.

"We, huh?"

"Well, you. I'm too important to waste time building stuff." Said Foundry, putting his sunglasses on. "Now get going! In the mean time, I'm going to get some reinforcements from the town. It's obvious that you plods were never cut out for this from the beginning!"

* * *

><p>"C'mon, Allegra!" Called Xanthe, waiting by the front door, "If you want to get to the festival on time, then we need to go now!"<p>

"Coming!" Cried back Allegra, accompanied by such a thumping down the stairs, that for half a second Xanthe feared that her daughter had fallen down the stairs rather than ran down. "Sorry." Panted Allegra as she screeched to a halt next to the door.

"Out." Pointed Xanthe, handing her her shoes.

"Why exactly are we leaving so early anyway?" Asked Allegra as she hopped up and down on the front steps, trying to pull her sandals on as quickly as possible.

"I told you," Said Xanthe, locking the door and slipping the keys into her handbag, "We've got to go and get some stuff for Jo. For the festival."

Allegra sighed, "I'm beginning to see why Robyn hates this festival so much." She grumbled.

Xanthe smiled, "Well, it's the last day today, so make the most of it."

* * *

><p>Foundry was in considerably better spirits by the time that he had gotten to Anna Thetique's local Grocery. He had terrorised three different people in regards to the murders, put Burkaby in his place, and now, due to a tip courtesy of his brilliant interviewing skills, he was likely going to arrest a murderer.<p>

He purposefully powered through the door, and walked straight over to where the dumpy lady was serving Miss Graves.

"Ms Thetique!" He said loudly, cutting off the other two's conversation. "We need to have a word."

"Good day to you too, Inspector Foundry." Said Anna absently, "If you could just wait a moment, I'll be right with you—"

"Now!" Barked Foundry.

"Good day to you. Mister Foundry." Said Miss Graves cheerfully; gosh he hated doddery old ladies.

"Hmm." He muttered, not making any attempt at returning the greeting.

"I can see you aren't going to stop hovering until you've said your piece." Grumbled Anna loudly. Foundry leant against the wall behind the counter with a smug grin.

"I hope you're going to take what I'm about to say very seriously." He said triumphantly.

"Of course." Said Anna dryly.

"Is it about the, murders?" Enquired Miss Graves.

"Yes!" Snapped Foundry, cutting her off, then, turning back to Anna he demanded, "All right, why'd you do it?"

"What, you think I did it?" Asked Anna sarcastically.

"Of course."

"You'd better phone the hospital, Amelia, looks like he's lost it."

"Mister Foundry, Anna or I couldn't have done the murders," Said Miss Graves as if explaining it to a small child. "We're too old and frail."

"Oh, I don't know, Amelia; I was in the Territorial Army you know!" Said Anna.

"_You_ were in the Territorial Army _too_?" Cried Miss Graves in delight. Foundry frowned at the right hand turn the conversation had taken.

"Midsomer Division!" Stated Anna proudly.

"_Midsomer Division_?" Cried Miss Graves, they both looked at each other for a second before Miss Graves cried out;

"Midsomer TA, always true!"

"Midsomer TA, never blue!" added Anna.

"Always there to save the day..."

"We're Midsomer TA! Hooray, hooray!" They both finished with a cheer. At that moment, the doorbell jingled, and the two ladies and the disbelieving Foundry looked up to see Xanthe's head for just long enough for it to say, "I don't believe it!" Before she disappeared with a snap.

"We weren't _that_ scary, where we?" Asked Anna with a blink.

A couple of seconds later the door opened again, and Achernar came in, holding a list and a ten pound note. "Wa't happn'd to Miss Greenwood, thar?" He asked. "She looked like she'd seen a spectre or somethin'."

Foundry's eyes narrowed. "Greenwood?" He repeated.

* * *

><p>"What was that all about?" Asked Allegra as she jogged to keep up with her mother. "Why did we leave?" she added, wondering why they had suddenly reversed direction when entering a shop, and taken off down the street instead.<p>

"What—" Asked Xanthe as if she'd forgotten she was there, "Oh, they were out of chocolate buns." She said after a moment's pause.

"What?" Asked Allegra in complete confusion.

She didn't get an answer; Xanthe just walked briskly ahead, causing Allegra to have to break into a run to keep up.

* * *

><p>Joyce was in bright spirits for the last day of the festival, despite the murders. On this particular morning, Tom had left with Ben, running their private investigation, and leaving her to look around the show by herself. Which if she was honest, she didn't really mind. She loved Tom dearly, but he did rather have a habit of being a killjoy.<p>

She was just browsing through a selection of hand quilted animal cushions when she heard two voices behind the white canvas of the back of the tent. _"Oi you, we need to talk."_ A female voice hissed.

"_Well, look who it is—I haven't seen you for what, eleven years?" _A second voice.

The voices were both familiar, Joyce could not help but notice. She held the cushion she'd been looking at closer to her chest as she surreptitiously leaned closer to the tent's wall.

"_Well I'm afraid you'll have to join the queue—"_

"_No. Today. My place. Lunch time. Be there. It's important!"_

"_Oh, you've gotten me intrigued now; why not just tell me here?"_

"_Because it's not something for idle ears to hear." _Joyce shivered; she couldn't help but feel that somehow she knew that she was eavesdropping. She backed away from the canvas slightly, _"Be there!"_ Joyce placed the cushion down, and quietly left the store, feeling rather unsettled.

She knew whom those two voices belonged to.

* * *

><p>Lucy and her mother walked onto the showgrounds for the final day of the festival, Lucy noting a rather odd feeling that seemed to linger around the grounds. It was as if they all knew that something else had happened.<p>

"Do you think that anyone else knows?" Asked Lucy quietly. "About this new murder?"

"Possible, but I doubt it." Said her mother, "I suspect that Inspector Foundry will want to make an announcement about the topic before too long though..."

It was clear from her tone, that she approved of Foundry no more than the rest of the village did. "Now then. Do you know where you're going to be meeting Allegra?"

"Yeah, she and my other friends are usually in the catering tent at this time of the morning. That's where we help."

"Well, Let's —"

"Carol!" Called a voice. A tall man with dark hair and a Welsh accent approached them. "And Lucy, good to see you both."

"Hello, Gareth. How's _The Swan_ going?"

"Great. We've just had a conservatory put on the back, so the lunch crowds have somewhere to go. I'm on my back there now actually, I've just come to drop off Ella and Faye and Lizzie."

"And how's Clair?"

"She's well. Been trying to get the cook to increase the menu. Impossible task if you ask me, she's more likely to be able to get blood out of a stone."

"Why don't you go on ahead, Lucy." Said Carol, "I'll catch you up."

"Sure." Lucy nodded, rushing off as her mum kept on chatting.

She arrived at the catering pavilion to find the rest of her friends—sans Allegra—spreading tablecloths over the undercover dining tables. "Hey guys." Said Lucy as she ran over to help them.

"Hi Lucy." Returned Faye, along with similar sentiments from the other girls.

"Here, let me help." Said Lucy, grabbing a stack of the folded tablecloths from the trolley. "Is Allegra not here yet?"

"Nope." Said Keely.

"Mum sent them on another shopping expedition." Grumbled Robyn, "Oh am I glad that it's the last day today! No more of the festival for at least another year."

"Why, could it be longer?" Asked Ella, who up until now had been expertly folding napkins into little Sydney Opera Houses.

"Well, it should be; this is supposed to be a prototype for an event that travels all around Britain." Said Robyn. She glanced over her shoulder quickly to affirm that Joanna hadn't sneaked up on them again, "But Mum's already talking about what we could do next year... And we haven't even finished this one yet."

"Well, who knows how long that might last." Said Lucy, "Apparently there was another murder last night."

Her friends were at a complete loss for words. "Another one?" Squeaked Faye at last.

"Who?" Asked Robyn.

"I don't know." Said Lucy, "Mum just told me that Dad had been called out to another murder."

"Gee, what a charming place this is. People being bumped off every time you turn around." Said Keely dryly.

"Look, there's Allegra." Said Robyn.

Lucy turned around to see Allegra bounding towards them with a strange expression on her face. "Hi Allegra." Smiled Lucy as she approached them.

"Hi Guys, you'll never believe what!"

"That there's been another murder?" Asked Keely, "Lucy was just telling us."

"Really!" Asked Allegra with excitement, "Who is it? No it wasn't that, mine was about Xanthe."

"We don't know—"

"What about Xanthe?"

Allegra frowned. "It's strange." She started, "We were going shopping, but when we went into Mrs Thetique's shop, she took one step into the place before suddenly turning and leaving. It was rather weird."

"Didn't she say why?"

"Something about her not having something or something..." Allegra trailed off.

"That wouldn't be unusual." Commented Lucy. "That's the reason that Mum doesn't like to go there. Anyway where's Xanthe now?"

Allegra's frown deepened, "It's odd, as soon as we got here, she said that she had some stuff she needed to do, and told me to go and find you—she seemed really distracted. Almost as if—"

"Just make sure that there is enough this time, please." Joanna's voice pieced through the girls' conversation, they looked around to see Joanna marching through the pavilion after three of the caterers, "We can't have a festival in Devon and run out of scones for Cream Tea, it was just a disaster."

"We severely underestimated the numbers, that's all Mrs Jackson, we've made sure that there will be enough this time."

"Please do, there's already been enough go wrong with this festival, what with the murder and that thing with the ponies on the first day, I don't think I can cope with another."

"Look, Lady." Said one of the other caterers, "We said we'd take care of it—go and run your ruddy event and let us deal with the food, we don't need to be told our job!"

"Just make sure of it." Snapped Joanna, before deliberately turning away from them. "Hi girls." She said, as she approached them. "Thanks for doing that for me—it's a big help."

"Did you hear about the murder?" Asked Lucy.

"What about it? Did they find out who did it?" Asked Joanna eagerly.

"Not that, I mean about—"

"Mrs Jackson!"

The six girls and Joanna turned to face the newcomer's voice. "Inspector Foundry." She said wearily. "How can I help you?"

The inspector strode self importantly in, followed by half a dozen other officers, Foundry stuffed a piece of paper into Joanna's face, "This is an order from the local magistrate, I am shutting down this ridiculous excuse for a show forthwith! Additionally, every stall on the reserve will be subjected to a search."

"What? You can't do that!" Cried Joanna.

"We are the law; we can do whatever I want." Said Foundry, signalling the other officers to start.

"Why are you doing this?" Asked Joanna.

"There has been another murder."

"Wha— Who? Who's been murdered?"

"That is a matter for the public address that I'm now about to hold." Said Foundry. Without asking, he strode over to the stage and snatched the microphone out of its stand. _"This is Detective Inspector Foundry." _he voice boomed around the showgrounds, the few dozen or so people in the immediate area looked over at him standing just in front of the stage, _"I have an important announcement to make!"_

Lucy noticed a few extra people trickle into the area as Foundry somewhat ungainly stepped up onto the platform; including her mother and Ella's dad. _"Now then, effective immediately, this festival has been cancelled! So go home, all of you!"_

A startled murmur travelled through the showgrounds. Seeing no one move, Foundry spoke up again, _"Go on, off you go! You've got no one to blame but yourselves."_

"Who's dead?" Called out Joanna again.

Foundry glared at her before turning back to the microphone, _"Less than an hour ago, Constable Rebecca Chambers was found dead in her front yard!"_

Joanna's hands flew to her mouth, and Lucy felt like her insides had turned to ice. She saw her friends, also with expressions of horror and shock written on their faces. "No..." Lucy choked.

"No way." Whispered Allegra, "Not Rebecca, sure Sirius, no one liked him anyway, but who would want to kill Rebecca?"

"_Therefore,"_ Continued Foundry, _"As it seems that this festival is the centre of this evil, and certainly will not help to prevent it, the event is over!" _Grinning happily, he stepped away from the stage, throwing the microphone over his shoulder in the vague direction of the stand.

"And that." He said, shooting a smug look at Joanna, "Is the end of that."

* * *

><p>"Well. That rather puts an end to things doesn't it?" Commented a woman of around sixty with blonde hair.<p>

"Yes." Agreed Carol, if somewhat distantly.

"I'd better go and get Ella then." Said Mr. Black, "See you later, Carol."

"Yes, Robert and I'll have to drop in at some point to see your new conservatory. We'll see you then, Gareth."

Mr Black touched his flatcap and walked off.

"Did you come especially for the festival?" Asked Carol of the blonde lady.

"Yes, my husband and I came down and have been staying at the pub here for the last few days." Said the woman.

"Ah, at least you got two days of the festival, then." Said Carol. "Are you going to go home today then? Assuming you're allowed to of course." She added dryly.

"I don't know. I'd have to round up my husband first—he's a policeman, so he's gotten very excited over this murder business."

Carol smiled in amusement, "My husband's a policeman too. Though we don't usually have anything here except for parking infringements."

"I wish I could say the same." Said the other woman ruefully, "He's always looking into some dreadful murder or another—it seems to follow him around."

Carol laughed nervously.

"So do you live in the village?" Asked Joyce.

"Yes, just in the next street." Said Carol, "Unfortunately, it's where all the murders have been. It's rather worrying with three children."

"I know what you mean." Said Joyce, nodding in understanding, "I have a daughter too, of course she's all grown up and married now, but I remember how worried I used to get when there was murder in Causton."

"Causton? Are you from Midsomer?"

"Oh yes, my husband is Detective Chief Inspector for Causton CID."

"The deadliest County in England."

"Yes, it has earned that reputation. Which is a shame really; it's such a pretty place. I'm Joyce Barnaby."

"Carol Evans." Said Carol, "Well if you're stuck in town, why don't you come around for lunch, Mrs Barnaby."

"Oh, I couldn't intrude like that." Started Joyce.

"Nonsense." Said Carol, "It'll be no trouble at all, why don't you see if you can get your husband to come around too?"

"Well, since you insist." Said Joyce, "What time would you like us? And what can we bring?"

"No, no. Don't worry about bringing anything." Said Carol, "Just come around half-twelve. We're in Jasmine Cottage, about halfway up the street on the left if you come from the main road."

"Thank you very much." Said Joyce, "We'll see you then."

* * *

><p>Things happened pretty quickly after Foundry's announcement, Ella's dad came and took her, Faye and Lizzie back home, a minute later, Keely's mum had come and dragged Keely off. Now Lucy, Allegra and Robyn sat on the edge of the stage, and waited for the inevitable arrival of their respective parents.<p>

"I can't believe Rebecca's dead." Said Lucy, staring at her lap.

"Neither can I." Agreed Allegra, none of the usual cheer in her voice, "I don't understand why someone would do that to her, let alone how."

"Rebecca was the one that taught you your higher powers, wasn't she?" asked Robyn of Lucy.

"Yeah."

"The woods aren't going to be the same without her." Allegra noted.

"It just isn't fair."

Robyn and Allegra nodded sadly.

"Are you okay, girls?" Asked Carol as she approached them, "Lucy?"

"Yeah, we're okay, Mrs Evans." Said Allegra quietly, "We're just sad about Rebecca being dead."

"Yes, I'm sorry. She was good friends with your mum, wasn't she?"

Allegra nodded.

"Will you two be okay if I pinch Lucy?" She asked, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"We'll be fine, thanks, Mrs Evans." Said Robyn with a nod.

"C'mon Lucy." Said Carol.

Lucy nodded glumly and stood up to follow her. "See you." She said, walking after her mum.

"Carol!" Said a voice. Lucy and her mother looked as they saw Xanthe running towards them. "Thank goodness I caught you." She said, as she reached them, "Look, I hate to ask, but can I have a really big favour?" She asked, "Can you look after Allegra for a few hours? Something of an emergency has come up."

"What's happened?" Asked Allegra, running over to them with Robyn tagging just behind.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Xanthe assured her, "Just some things that I have to do." She looked at Carol with a pleading look, "I really hate to spring this on you at short notice…"

"That's okay." Said Carol with a faint smile, "I've got people coming around for lunch, but Allegra is welcome to come as well. As long as that's okay with you."

"That's fine, thank you very much, Carol. I really appreciate it." Said Xanthe with palpable relief. "I'm sorry to just drop you like this, Allegra, I'll see you soon."

"Okay." Said Allegra with confusion, "I hope you'll tell me what's going on."

"Later." Agreed Xanthe with a half-smile. "Thanks again, Carol."

"No problems. Come on then girls." She said to Lucy and Allegra.

"Bye." They said to Robyn, before following Carol.

"See you tonight." Xanthe whispered to Robyn before darting off.

"Joanna." She said, as she reached her friend who was solemnly refolding the table cloths that the girls had been arranging only minutes before.

"Xanthe. I take it you've heard?"

"About Rebecca?"

Joanna nodded.

"What are we going to do?" Asked Xanthe.

"What can we do? We'll just have to keep going regardless." Said Joanna. She sighed, "Poor Rebecca."

"She knew." Xanthe said, "She knew who it was, she told me on the phone the evening before she died. She just wouldn't tell me who. I suppose that's why she was killed."

"Are you going to tell the police?"

Xanthe looked over in the festival grounds, already many of the stalls were being taken down, people packing up their displays, and getting ready to leave. "That's a touch problematic." She said.

"Why? I don't understand?"

"Look, don't worry about it, Joanna. It'll all be over by this afternoon—hopefully." Said Xanthe.

* * *

><p>"Joyce, I'm trying to run an investigation here." Said Barnaby, holding his mobile to his ear.<p>

"_Which you're not supposed to be in anyway."_ Came Joyce's voice, _"Come on, Tom, Mrs Evans has very kindly offered to have us around for lunch, and I think it would be good form if you came."_

Barnaby sighed exasperatedly.

"_I would have thought that you'd be interested in coming anyway," _Joyce continued,_ "Her husband is the police sergeant from the village here."_

"Alright, fine." Gave in Tom, "When and where?"

"_Half past twelve, Tom, and it's at a place called _Jasmine Cottage_—apparently it's the street that all the murders have been happening on."_ Said Joyce, _"And bring Ben along, I'm sure she won't mind."_

"I hope not, Joyce." Mumbled Barnaby, "'cause you'll be in rather big trouble if they do. I'll see you there."

"_See you there."_

"So what did Mrs Barnaby want, Sir?" Asked Ben as they sat in the car.

"She wants us to meet her for lunch at the Evan's place in half an hour." Said Barnaby, folding his phone back up. "Apparently we've all been invited."

"Aren't we going to see Sergeant Evans now though, sir?"

"That was the general idea." Muttered Barnaby, "And I think we still will, I'll only get told off if I start asking questions about dead bodies at a lunch party."

"Right, Sir." Said Jones, starting the car up and heading for the east end of the town. The road block was about half a mile outside the village proper, at a bridge where the road crossed the creek that flowed out of the woods. Sergeant Evans had his patrol car parked across the road, as well as a couple of police cones.

"Good day, detectives." Said Sergeant Evans as they parked on the verge just before the bridge and walked over. "I hope Foundry's not giving you too much trouble?"

"Nah, we've kept well out of his way this morning." Said Barnaby, "How are you holding up?"

"About Rebecca? I'm alright. She was a good worker, but I didn't know her very well on a personal level." Said Robert Evans, "But it's still very sad of course, made even worse by the fact that Foundry seems no closer to finding who did it."

"And he's still got you manning the road block?" Asked Jones, "I thought he was getting everyone to pack up, where does he expect them all to go?"

"Well, that's the question, isn't it?" Said Evans, getting out of his car and looking up the road out of the village. "The answer is no one—including Foundry—knows, so it's all going to be a complete and utter stuff-up. Fortunately, I get my lunch break in ten minutes, so with a bit of luck, I won't be the one who has to deal with it."

"PC Kayle?" Asked Jones.

"No, He's on the same shift as me. No, Foundry's called down a dozen constables from town. About the only good decision he's made as far as I'm concerned."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that he managed to ruin his own day yesterday." Said Jones with a smirk, "We were having dinner at the pub when he came in enquiring about a room. But it seems that because of all the people who weren't allowed to leave the village, there were no rooms left."

"I'll bet he wasn't very happy about that." Drawled Evans.

"Did you notice anything strange about Constable Chamber's body?" Asked Barnaby, looking down into the creek. "I'm afraid they were already putting her into the ambulance by the time I got there."

"Not as strange as Eridanus'." Said Robert thoughtfully, "But there were a couple of things actually.

"The ground was soft, but there was no trampled grass to speak of, no impressions in the ground except for where she fell, it's like she didn't try to fight off her attacker at all." He said with a frown, "And another thing, she was in the front lawn, and had fallen into the garden, but she was in her pyjamas, with bare feet."

"And?"

"Well why would she have gone out into the garden in your pyjamas and bare feet?"

"Particularly if you were investigating a noise, or talking to someone." Barnaby nodded in agreement.

"It does seem odd that you could be strangled and not leave any traces of a fight at all." Agreed Jones.

"Which matches the other death as well." Said Barnaby, "How come the whole room wasn't set ablaze by something that was hot enough to reduce a human to ash?"

They looked up as a police patrol car arrived, with two constables in it. "We're here to relieve you, Sergeant." The driver said as he climbed out.

"Very good, Constable." Said Robert, climbing back into his own car.

"By the way, Sir?" Asked the other constable, "What the heck's s'posed to happen with the people at the festival, he told 'em all to go home. And we was told to stop anyone from entering or leaving."

"That, Constable, is known to no one except Inspector Foundry."

"And probably not known to him either." Said the first of the constables.

Robert smiled ruefully, he turned back to Barnaby and Jones, who were standing by the edge of the road, "You guys are coming back to our place for lunch, right? I'll see you there; I've just got some stuff to pick up on the way back."

"See you there, Sergeant." Agreed Barnaby, nodding to Jones. "Let's go then, Jones."

"Yes, sir." Agreed Jones.

* * *

><p>Foundry sat at one of the spare desks at the village police station, browsing through yet another form from residents. On either side of him, stacks of paper completely covered the desk, some over half a foot high, and that was to say nothing of the combined amounts of insurance documentation and medical files that were spilling out of the store room. If Foundry had had a sense of humour he might have found the fact that he was drowning under trivial and inconsequential information sent in by local residents amusing, or at least vaguely ironic. Instead, he could do nothing but mutter about how unfair life was to him while going through all the paperwork and chucking all of the rubbish over his shoulder.<p>

"Bloody PC Chambers." He muttered, "She was supposed to be helping with all this."

He could have course, have told one of the other officers to do it, except that both PC Kayle and PS Evans were maintaining the blockade in and out of the village, and even if the lowly officers were competent enough to sift through the garbage for the important clues that he was determined to find, Detective Inspectors did _not_ man roadblocks.

Letting out a growl of frustration, he threw the fourth successive written statement over his shoulder, scrunched up in a ball. _'Here's something suspicious; the pub's selling half price beer on Saturdays.'_ were people in this hole of a village really this dumb?

He lifted his head lethargically as he heard the door whir open. A short woman with blond hair and a serious expression stepped in. "Inspector Foundry." She said, "I have urgent news concerning the murder of Mr Eridanus!"

"Ah! Excellent!" Said Foundry, brightening up at once. With a sweep of his hand, he pushed two stacks of paper off the desk onto the floor, and slammed his notebook onto the desk. "What is it?"

"Well, sir, it was quite an odd occurrence." She said slowly, "It happened just now on my way to the shops."

"Yes, yes." Foundry encouraged.

"Well, just as I was backing out of my drive, I happened to look up the street and..."

"Go on."

"Well, I don't know how to put this, Inspector, but I saw one of the neighbours' cats sitting on Mr Eridanus' car."

"And...?" Pressed Foundry.

"That's it, sir." Said the woman. Foundry stared at her with an all too familiar irritation and disappointment.

"It was there yesterday too." The woman continued thoughtfully, "And on the day of the murder. Kinda suspicious, don't you think?"

"What, you think the cat did the murder?" Exploded Foundry, leaping to his feet.

"Well, you said to report anything that might be relevant." The woman said.

"Well I've changed my mind! Now out!" He roared.

The woman shrugged, trying to keep a straight face as she turned away from Foundry; she could laugh _after _she had gotten outside.

Meanwhile Foundry glared at her behind as she walked away, turning back to his papers as the door opened. "Wildlife nuts." He muttered derisively as the automatic door slid closed behind the woman.

* * *

><p>Lucy and Allegra sat on Lucy's bed, looking out the window down at the garden. "I'm sorry about Rebecca." Said Allegra.<p>

"Wha—?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"Well you probably knew her better than any of the rest of us; she was your higher powers tutor after all." Clarified Allegra.

"Oh. I suppose so." Said Lucy, "I guess I'm still wondering who would have wanted to kill her." She said.

"_Lucy!"_ Called her mum from downstairs, _"Can you come and help set the table? Our guests should be here in a moment."_

"Sure, Mum!" Called back Lucy, getting to her feet.

"Any idea who's actually coming?" Asked Allegra as they made their way downstairs.

"Nup." Said Lucy.

"Great, now if you two could set up in the dining room." Said Carol as they entered the kitchen. She handed Lucy a stack of plates and Allegra a hand full of cutlery. "I've just got half a dozen things that are all supposed to be happening right about now." She added absently as she turned back to her cooking.

"Right, Come on." Said Allegra, tearing into the dining room.

"What do you suppose Xanthe was doing today?" Asked Lucy as they set out the dinner set.

Allegra shrugged, "Don't know—she's been acting a little odd today."

"Maybe she's just jittery about the murders." Suggested Lucy.

"Maybe." Agreed Allegra grudgingly, "But she wasn't so wound up last night—or even when we first went out this morning…"

Just as they finished laying out the last plate, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, Mum!" Called Lucy as she hurried down the hall to the door. She opened it and came face to face with a blonde lady who looked to be in her sixties. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes, is this Carol Evans' house?"

"Yep." Said Lucy.

"You must be her daughter, I'm Joyce Barnaby; your mother invited me and my husband around for lunch."

"Barnaby? Like as in Chief Inspector Barnaby?" Asked Allegra, appearing at Lucy's side. "He came to our house yesterday afternoon!"

"That would have been my husband." Joyce confirmed as Lucy let her in.

"Yeah, he was asking about our fish pond, it overflowed and caused a whole lot of damage last year you see."

"Joyce." Greeted Carol, as she appeared at the end of the hall way. "Your husband not coming?"

"He better be." Said Joyce, "He said he would." She sighed, "Then again, it wouldn't be the first time…" She muttered.

"I'm sure he'll turn up." Said Carol, "Here, come through to the kitchen." She led the way back down the hall.

"You didn't tell me that the police had talked to you." Said Lucy in mock outrage, as they followed behind the adults.

"Sorry." Allegra grinned, "I forgot."

"Humph, well you'd better tell me what they said then, 'cause—"

The doorbell rang again.

"I got it." Said Lucy, doubling back. She threw open the door and found two men standing outside. "Are you…?"

"I'm Tom Barnaby." Said the first man, "Is Mrs Barnaby here, yet?"

"Ah, there you are, Tom." Said Joyce as she came back down the hall way, closely followed by Carol, "I was beginning to worry that you'd gotten side tracked again."

"Oh no. Mrs Barnaby." Said Tom, stepping into the hall, "This time I had an escort." He glanced at the second man behind him.

"Ben." Greeted Joyce, cheerfully. "Sorry, Carol, this is my husband Tom, and his sergeant Ben Jones."

"Nice to meet you." Said Carol politely.

"Likewise, Mrs Evans." Said Tom Barnaby.

"You too, Mrs Evans." Said Jones. "Well I'd better be going, Sir." He added, seemingly not wanting to intrude.

"You're welcome to stay if you want to, Mr Jones." Said Carol.

"Ah, no. Thanks for offering." Said Jones after a brief moment considering.

At that moment there was a scrunch of gravel and a moment later, Lucy's dad appeared at the door, sporting a bulging plastic bag of groceries. "Everyone already here then?" He said cheerfully, then seeing his wife's eyes lingering on the plastic bag, added, "Just some extras. Is everyone coming in?"

"Ah, no. I was just leaving." Said Jones again quickly, he turned to leave.

"You sure you won't stay?" Asked Robert, raising an eyebrow.

"There's plenty of food." Carol added, "I was expecting my two eldest daughters back for lunch, but they've met up with some friends in town."

Jones considered, "Oh alright, thanks." He said at last.

"Good man." Chuckled Robert, waving him in.

They made their way in, and Carol led the way down to the kitchen, "Can I get anyone a glass of wine?" Asked Robert as they entered the kitchen.

"Oh, yes please." Said Barnaby.

"What about you? Mrs Barnaby?"

"Oh yes, thanks, sorry it was Robert wasn't it…?"

"That reminds me; before I forget, Detectives." Added Carol, turning back from the oven, "This is our daughter, Lucy, and our next door neighbour, Allegra."

"Yes. As a matter of fact I've already met Miss Greenwood." Said Barnaby with a smile, "And nice to meet you too, Lucy."

"Nice to meet you." Said Lucy, smiling at both of them.

"Hi." Said Jones somewhat awkwardly as Robert handed him a glass of wine.

"Well, dinner's almost ready." Said Carol, "So why don't we all go and sit down, and I'll bring the food out in just a moment? Here, I've got yours for you over here, Allegra."

Barnaby looked back as they walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room, and saw Carol passing Allegra a plate of vegetables and mashed potatoes. "Vegetarian?" He asked Robert.

"Yes, neither she nor Xanthe eat any meat, evidently. Not like me—life wouldn't be worth living if I didn't get my stake once a week." He grinned. "Take a seat, take a seat."

Allegra walked in a moment later, carrying her plate of veggies, and immediately sat down next to Lucy, who had ended up next to Jones while the two Barnabys sat on the opposite side. Robert sat at the head of the table, nearest to the road, and Carol, when she came in sat down at the other end after depositing several trays of food in the middle of the table.

"This is jolly good bit of pork." Said Tom, as he took a bite out of the succulent meat. "My compliments to the chef."

"Yes, I bought it from the Organic Bucher at the festival." Said Carol, offering Joyce a refill of wine, "Actually, I think he comes from over your way."

"Not, Kyle?" Asked Joyce.

"Something like that."

Meanwhile, Allegra was asking Jones why he and Barnaby weren't investigating more around the village. "Well, it's kinda complicated." Said Jones, "You see DI Foundry is the investigator that was assigned to this case, and he doesn't want our help…"

"So what? You're not really investigating at all?" Asked Allegra disappointedly.

"Yes and no." Said Jones slowly, "We're investigating but we can't do anything in an official capacity… Of course, if we were to find the real murderer, it would be a different matter." He looked suddenly serious, "It wasn't one of you, was it?"

Lucy and Allegra giggled.

"Do you have any suspects?" Asked Lucy.

"Isn't your dad a police sergeant?" He nodded to Robert who was deep in discussion with Inspector Barnaby about one of the latter's old cases.

"Well yes, but he never talks about work." Pouted Lucy.

"Well, it's probably best if I don't say too much then." Said Jones back quietly, "But we have a couple."

"Wish we could help." Said Lucy.

"Well, if you want to help, you keep out of trouble and report anything suspicious if you notice anything." Said the Detective Sergeant, sitting back in his chair.

"Humph, well the only thing I've noticed suspicious is Xanthe." Said Allegra.

"You call your mum by her first name?" Asked Jones in surprise.

"Yeah, always have." Grinned Allegra.

"And what about your father?"

"Never met him." Said Allegra flatly, "He left before I was born."

"Oh, sorry to hear that." Said Jones, then changing the subject, he asked, "Is that old lady next door always so talkative about other people's business?"

Lucy and Allegra giggled, "Miss Graves?" Allegra asked, "Yeah. It's funny, she was really sick when she arrived here, but in the last two years she's really gotten a lot better!"

"I see."

"This seems like a fairly tight knit village, Carol." Said Joyce, "You must all be very upset by two deaths in it."

"You know it's funny, Joyce. It's almost like this Village is split down the middle." Said Carol thoughtfully.

"Oh? Really? It doesn't look like that from the outside."

"Aw, there are no open feuds or anything like that." Said Carol with a slight frown. "There are people like myself, Robert, Mrs Thetique, Miss Hastings from the school, Brett at the pub, we all fall into one category, and then there are other's like Miss Graves, Miss Chambers, Xanthe Greenwood and so on, and they all seem to hang around. It's not even like they won't talk to you in the street or something, they're all very friendly… but there's just something different about them. They seem to keep separate for the most part. With notable exceptions being Miss Graves and Mrs Thetique. And Allegra and Lucy of course."

"But not you and Xanthe?"

"No."

"You don't like her, do you?" Asked Joyce, keeping her voice down in respect of certain other people in the room.

"What makes you say that?" Countered Carol.

"It's the way you say her name; and how you interacted this morning…"

Carol gave a shadow of a grin, "Policeman's wife and all that." She said, "That's what everyone says about me…"

She considered, taking a sip of wine as she stared thoughtfully at Allegra, "I don't dislike her, outright." She said finally, "But… I don't know—and Allegra's a really lovely girl—I've just never really been able to warm to Xanthe. No idea why, I suppose we just don't have much in common."

"What about Sirius Eridanus then?"

"Oh, him." Said Carol with a slight chuckle, "Him. He never fit into either group. I don't think anyone could rightly say they were his friend." She continued far more seriously.

"So what do you say, Robert? You know this village better than I or Jones do, who do you think is capable of murder?" Barnaby asked as they made it through the first helping.

"That's the problem, I can't." Said Robert ruefully, "I never expected there to be a murder right on my own doorstep."

"Hmm, No one ever does." Chuckled Barnaby.

"No seriously, there was only one person I'd ever considered might a general danger to society, and he's dead now." Robert frowned.

"Would it surprise you to know then, that Rebecca Chambers took Anna Thetique home on Friday after she tried to assault Doctor Avencoft?"

"Really?" Asked Robert with a raised eyebrow, "Well not so much the attempted assault as Rebecca not telling me—there's never been much love lost between Anna and the doctor."

"There are rumors that he may have made the odd bungle." Said Barnaby leadingly.

"So they say." Said Robert dubiously, "The problem is no one knows who 'they' is. I personally can't fault him, he's a first rate doctor as far as my experiences go… and I've never heard any more than vague rumors otherwise. Most of the people in the villages around here go to him." He looked around the table which was emptying rather quickly. "Excuse me a moment." He said, getting to his feet and collecting peoples empty plates before walking into the kitchen, a couple of minutes later he returned carrying a plate piled with sticky chocolate pastries.

"Well, have a good look, they won't last long. These are Anna Thetique's county famous homemade Chocolate buns." He said as he placed the plate in the middle of the table. "I got them on the way home from work." He added, seeing Carol's surprised expression.

"Xanthe said she was out of chocolate buns." Allegra hissed to Lucy.

"What?" Asked Lucy in complete confusion.

"She did! She said that—"

"Allegra, what are you talking about?" Asked Lucy, causing people to look at them. "Sorry." she added more quietly.

"Never mind." Said Allegra softly, "I'll tell you later." She said, with special emphasis on later implying that she meant that night

* * *

><p>Xanthe watched stoically as she watched Inspector Foundry park at the curb, just up the street. Though she had been the one to contact him about this meeting, she nevertheless was rather uncomfortable about the upcoming discussion, or confrontation as it was equally likely to become.<p>

The doorbell rung, and with a final swallow, Xanthe walked to the door and opened it. Foundry wasted no time in getting to the point. "Whatever this is about, make it quick, Xanthe, I'm a busy guy." He paused slightly as if considering, "I must say I'm surprised to see you in a hole of a place like this, it's a far cry from Cambridge."

"Being a parent has a way of rearranging one's priorities, _Jason_." She said pointedly, already feeling anger from many years ago coming back to her. With a deliberate swallow, she pushed it aside. "Come in."

"Thank you." Said Foundry dryly, pushing past her into the living room. Xanthe again felt irritation begin to rise at his attitude, but willed it away, and followed him into the living room.

"So, what do you think it is that you've got to offer?" Said Foundry lazily, while he lounged on the sofa as if he owned the place.

"I see that you've gotten even more arrogant—if that's possible—than your days as a patrol officer." replied Xanthe.

"And you love me for it." Grinned Foundry haughtily.

"Just because I was naïve enough to actually believe that you might change when I was younger, doesn't mean that I care anything for you now—you had your chance."

"And enjoyed every minute of it, Sweetie."

"Don't call me that!" Snapped Xanthe, her anger finally getting the best of her, "I never liked you calling me that before, and I certainly won't let you call me that now."

"Fine, whatever, Sweetie, now what have you got."

"Nothing in regards to the murders, unfortunately. Though I rather think I wouldn't be telling you even if I did." Shot Xanthe, "This is about—"

"And why wouldn't you be?" Interrupted Foundry, "That would be perverting the course of justice."

"Like you've ever cared about justice, Foundry," countered Xanthe, "All you've ever cared about is climbing the ladder of power; which is exactly why I would report it to Robert or Rebec... would have reported it to Rebecca."

"Pah, those country cops can't cope with an investigation like this! They're barely competent to hand out speeding fines."

* * *

><p>Keely had not been particularly impressed when her mother had told her that she couldn't go outside on her own. She had always enjoyed being able to go out and play on the quiet road that they had lived on in Australia, and having that freedom removed from her was not at all a nice compensation for moving to the other side of the world. So she'd snuck out one of the windows the first chance she'd got.<p>

She sighed as she kicked aimlessly at the grass under the large elm trees along the street. She'd never wanted to move to England, and while she'd quickly made new friends in the few days since she'd arrived, she still missed her old friends, and her old haunts around the local forest.

As she passed Lucy's house—the words 'Jasmine Cottage' proudly presented on the low gate—she heard the sound of raised voices, which after a moment she determined to be coming from next door; Allegra's house.

She paused for a moment, deliberating, but then her curiosity got the better of her, and quickly checking to make sure no one was watching, she quietly snuck through the gate and over to the Hydrangeas that were growing beneath the sitting room window. She pushed through the thick stems of the flowers, and just short of the window, she came face to face with...

"Miss Graves." She squeaked at a breathless whisper.

"Shhh." The elder lady whispered back, leaning on her walking stick, "I'm not really here."

"No, I'm not here either." Agreed Keely with a slight smile, suspecting that in fact, they were both there for the same reason. She moved up alongside Miss Graves and peered through the bushes.

Inside the room, stood Xanthe, wearing her usual outfit of hand dyed cotton clothes, her curly hair wild as if in anger. Across the room from her, almost directly in front of Keely and Miss Graves, stood Inspector Foundry, dressed immaculately as ever, though she could not help but notice somewhat smugly that the bottom of his otherwise perfect trousers were splatted slightly with mud.

"Seems like a social call more than an investigation." Commented Miss Graves at a whisper, "They've been talking a good deal about some sort of history..."

"What kind of history could Xanthe have with someone like that?"

"_They understand the Village, Jason, which is more than I can say for you!" _Xanthe was shouting at him,_ "Given what I've heard, your preferred method for getting help from a community is to insult them and then demand information from them in the same breath."_

"'Jason'?" Keely mouthed.

"_Communities like this one are too backward to understand the demands of a busy person like me in a situation as delicate as this. Or even to understand the insult."_

Xanthe rolled her eyes, _"Yes, which is why everyone is being so coöperative since you made that little statement."_ she said as dryly as a dune of sand.

"_Of course, they're country bumpkins; they just don't understand what someone like me needs to solve a murder case."_

"_What? Like a signed confession?"_ Asked Xanthe snakily. Keely shoved her fist into her mouth to hold back a snort.

"_Would you get to the point, woman, this is about her isn't it?"_ Snapped Foundry, _"Where is she anyway. The girl from this morning?"_

"_Allegra? She's around at a friend's house; there is no need for her to hear any of this."_

Keely frowned, _what did Allegra have to do with any of this?_

"_Allegra, huh? So that's what you called her."_

"_What, you think you should have got a say in it or something?"_ Xanthe asked coldly.

"_Well of course, she is my daughter."_

Keely's breath caught in her throat. There was no way that could be true. No way!

"_NO! MY daughter, she has nothing to do with you!" _Snapped Xanthe.

"_What do you mean? She's the right age."_

Xanthe flushed, _"Don't be dumb!" _She shouted, _"That's not what I meant! You're not to go anywhere near her, she doesn't need you, and I don't want you to even note that you're related. She hasn't had you in her life up until now, and that's the way it's going to stay!_

"_You ignore her outside of your investigation, and you leave here once you're done playing policeman and putting everyone in jail!"_

Keely sat back into the mass of Hydrangea stalks behind her in shock. She could not believe what she was hearing. And yet on the other hand it all fit. Xanthe being reportedly odd since the murder's began, Allegra even looked a little like him in her face. "No wonder she calls him all those names." She mumbled under her breath.

"_So now you think you're going to stop me from seeing my daughter?" _Foundry was shouting.

"_I've taken care of her for all this time, while you've not even sent a letter about her, there's no _yours _about it."_

"_Ah, but there very much is a _'my' _about it."_ Said Foundry smugly, _"Maybe I'm interested in my child after all these years."_

"_Well it's funny that you never showed any interest in her before she was born!" _Screeched Xanthe, totally give up on being civilised, _"But no, that would have harmed your precious career! You forfeited any right to her from that moment."_

"_Ah, but according to blood and the law, she's just as much mine as yours."_ Foundry replied, his face taking on an almost evil look_, "So if I decide that I want to get to know my daughter; there's nothing you can do."_

"_That's the problem with you, Jason, you always underestimated me." _Shouted Xanthe, _"You have no idea what I could do!"_

Keely felt a chill run down her spine at those words.

"_Oh, really? And just what would you do?"_ Asked Foundry smarmily—seemingly not affected as Keely was at Xanthe's statement.

Xanthe blinked at being put on the spot, _"Well I—"_

"_All I'd need to do is take you to court, and that'd be the end of it." _Said Foundry nastily.

"_You really think that any judge would take her away from me? When you've done nothing for her since she was conceived?"_

Foundry's smile got even wider, _"They would when they found out that you've been abusing her!"_

Keely again recoiled mentally. Xanthe didn't come across as the sort of person who would engage in child abuse, nor did Allegra seem like a victim of it, but then on the other hand, she'd only known them a few days... the next few exchanges somewhat allayed her fears though.

"_What? That's a lie and you know it!"_

"_But who do you think the courts would believe? A senior and respected police officer; or a wishy washy single mother who doesn't even have a real job?"_

"_Respected in his own mind maybe! You stay away from Allegra, Jason!" _Yelled Xanthe, _"Or you'll regret it."_

"_On the contrary, you'd be the one to regret it."_

Xanthe snapped, Keely could see the change in her even from outside the house and across the room, her eyes flashed and as fast as a whip crack she had snatched a large vase off the mantelpiece. Foundry either didn't see the change or didn't seem to care, until she pitched the vase straight at his smug grin. Keely, didn't see what happened after that, she dived out of the way herself, expecting any moment to hear the shattering of the glass above her as the vase past through it.

Instead when the smash did come, it was somewhat muffled, although the glass above her and Miss Graves rattled. But it seemed that the vase had hit the wall next to the window instead of sailing through the glass.

It certainly didn't seem to have hit Foundry, she could hear him saying something, although it was significantly quieter and she couldn't catch exactly what. She slowly righted herself and peered through the window again.

Foundry's smug grin was gone, replaced by an expression that could only be described as livid. Even with limp daffodils in his hair, there was nothing funny about the way he now spoke, his voice far more dangerous than his earlier tone. _"...I was just stringing you along, _Sweetie_. But since you've decided to mess with me... two can play at that game."_

He pulled one of the wet flowers from his hair and threw it at Xanthe's feet, _"I start the custody application tomorrow." _He shot her his most horrible smile yet, _"Enjoy your daughter while you can. Good day Miss Greenwood. I'll see myself out."_

With a final satisfied smirk at Xanthe's horrified expression, Foundry turned and left, leaving her to fall to her knees in despair.

Keely stood in the bushes outside the window with her mouth hanging open in shock. She couldn't believe what she had just learnt, what she'd just witnessed. She was rudely brought back to her senses when the front door banged open and Foundry strode out, whistling merrily to himself as he walked down the path and out onto the street, as if he were pleased with himself.

"Wow." she said softly, as she watched him turn left and head towards his car parked a little further down the street.

"Wow, indeed." Agreed Miss Graves, her head sticking out of the bush alongside Keely's. "And it looks like it's not over yet." She added, pointing as Foundry suddenly changed direction, heading straight towards the front door of Jasmine Cottage.

"Inspector Barnaby's in there too." Miss Graves said, "So I do believe that all hell is about to break loose; I'd think we'd be much better off back in our respective homes when that happens." She finished thoughtfully.

Keely nodded, inclined to agree.

* * *

><p>"What I don't understand," Jones was saying to Robert, "Is why they decided to hold this wildlife festival here? Surely there are bigger places in town that they could have used, with more accommodation?"<p>

"I understand that this was a cheaper alternative." Responded Robert, "And most of the public spaces in the town were booked out long ago for other events to take up the long weekend."

"So, this was just the last place left then, was it?" Barnaby asked.

"Well, that, and Xanthe Greenwood was a great advocate of the festival—she's best friend or something with Mrs Jackson who is the president of the society, I think she probably pushed—"

He was interrupted by a thunderous banging at the door. The members of the lunch looked around in surprise. With a slight frown, Carol stood up and went to the door. "Can I help you—" She started as she opened it.

She was pushed out of the way by Inspector Foundry barging in, looking rather too cheerful, "Won't be long." He said merrily, "Just come to see my d…" He trailed off as he laid eyes on Barnaby. Over the course of a couple of seconds, his face went from cheerful to livid. "What the blazes are you doing here, Bokenby?"

"I could ask you the same question, Inspector." Said Barnaby mildly, "This is a private lunch party."

"Lunch party?" Exclaimed Foundry, waving his arms around wildly, "I have told you not once, but twice, that your presence here was not wanted! And you still insist on hanging around."

"Was this before, or _after_ you blockaded the village, Inspector?" Asked Jones, "It's a bit hard to get out of here when all the roads are closed."

Foundry opened and closed his mouth several times, then rounded on Robert, "And you're party to this, Sergeant Evans? I expected better from you."

"What I do in my private time, _Sir_, is none of your business." Responded Lucy's dad.

"Why you little…" Foundry started, advancing.

"Inspector Foundry." Said Barnaby, standing up and facing the raging inspector, "I am on holiday, I am visiting friends who have very kindly agreed to have us around for lunch since there is no longer a festival to go to. You sir, are trespassing without warrant, and as such, on behalf of Mr and Mrs Evans I would like to ask you to leave. If you don't, there are plenty of people I know rather well down in Devon CID who would be _very_ interested to hear about a rogue police officer."

"Are you threatening me, Chief Inspector?" Asked Foundry, tilting his head so that he was looking at Barnaby out of the bottom corner of his eye.

"Not at all." Dismissed Barnaby, "Merely reminding you of the law, and the _consequences_ for police officers—detectives or otherwise—who fail to follow it."

"Oh yeah? You think you're so clever don't you, Barkley?" Snarled Foundry, right in his face, "But have you found the murderer yet? No. otherwise you wouldn't be hanging around with your pal Evans and your offsider from up country—I take it that is why you're here, Sergeant." He added, raising his voice as he addressed Jones.

"How very perceptive of you, Sir." Said Jones dryly.

"This is a murder investigation, I was not aware that it was a competition, Mr Foundry." Said Barnaby, not having moved from the close distance that Foundry had stood him in, "And unless I'm very much mistaken, you haven't found the murderer either."

"Now that is where you're wrong, Barnabeen." Said Foundry smugly. "I'm just on my way to arrest the man responsible now."

"And you just thought you'd stop in here on the way." Asked Jones sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact."

Foundry stepped closer to Barnaby so their noses were almost touching, "This is the case to get me to Detective Chief Inspector, Barnaky. No one is going to stand in my way."

With that, he turned around and strode out the door, causing Carol to once again have to leap out of his way.

"Well, I certainly see why none of you like him." Said Joyce casually.

"C'mon, Jones." Said Barnaby, pulling his jacket off the back of his chair, "Let's go and see just who it is, that Detective Inspector Foundry has arrested."

* * *

><p>Barnaby and Jones arrived at the Star Insurance office as Foundry was rudely walking around directing police officers, "You, around the back, you, come with me." People from the street were gathering around, looking from shop doorways, or houses, or even just watching from the footpath.<p>

Tom and Ben walked over to Foundry as he waited, holding a megaphone on the foot path. "Achernar Muliphein?" Asked Jones as they approached.

"Yes, it's obvious." Said Foundry, paying them not a glance, "He was Sirius Eridanus' lover, they had a tiff and fell out with each other. Sirius was going to run off with PC Chambers, but Mr Muliphein didn't like being jilted and got to them before they could skip town."

"Do you _really_ think so?" Asked Barnaby.

"Of course, it explains all the facts. And furthermore he tried to make fun of me on two occasions, once at the festival, and once at his office. That sort of disrespect for the law can't be tolerated."

"Made fun of you?" Jones repeated.

"_Well,_ he conned me into taking all of Sirius' company files, most of them were at least five years old." Said Foundry, "Look, would you hurry up over there?" He yelled at one of the constables.

"We're all ready, Sir." The policeman reported.

"Inspector Foundry, do you even have the _slightest _shred of evidence that anything that you've just postulated is true?"

"That is none of your business, Bajnaby." Said Foundry, raising the Megaphone to his mouth. "_Alright, Achernar Muliphein! Come out with your hands up!"_

"Is that really necessary?" Asked Tom, making a half-hearted attempt to cover his ears.

"Yes. _If you don't come out now, I'm gunna have to come in!"_ Said Foundry, _"Not coming, fine then. _Alright then, men, let's go!"

He walked purposefully straight up to the front door of the building.

Jones and Barnaby looked at each other, and then hurried after him. Foundry yanked open the door and strode in as if he owned the place. One of the uniformed constables held the door open for Tom and Ben. Just before Foundry reached the door Achernar appeared at it, wearing an irritated expression. "Do ya mind? I was o' the phone!" he growled.

"Congratulations on your achievements." Smirked Foundry, "Now you're under arrest as well."

"What? 'Ave you gone completely daft, Laddie?" asked Mr Muliphein.

"No. You burnt Sirius Eridanus to death, because he'd dumped you to run off with Rebecca Chambers. That must have hurt."

"Are you joke'n? She hated his guts."

Foundry ignored him, "Then, you strangled the woman who had corrupted him with an old rope, and left her in her front garden." He looked at the Scott with glee, "Oh it feels good to be onto something _big!_" He cackled. "Now come on, let's go." He continued after a brief moment of self-gratification. He dragged Achernar forward by the scruff of the neck.

"Hang on." Said Jones, appalled, "Don't you think you're forgetting something?"

"Whatever do you mean, Sergeant?" Said Foundry, stepping so that he face was centimetres from Jones'.

"I mean, aren't you going to read him his rights." Said Jones, unphased, "And if you don't mind, could you not spit please, it's wet."

"Wet? If you were a sergeant in _my_ constabulary, you'd be…"

"Looking for another job, Sir."

"Mr Foundry, how did Mr Muliphein burn Mr Eridanus to cinders without even damaging the floor?"

"Yeah? How did I do that?" Asked Achernar, "I think I'll stand over here with them—"

"No you don't!" Growled Foundry, pulling him back. "He's a bloody murderer, Brandaby, why on earth are you interested in the floor?"

"Because at the temperature it took to cook him, his whole kitchen ought to have gone up." Said Jones, "And while you're about it, how was Rebecca Chambers killed without her fighting back at all?"

"Look here, Foundry." Barnaby said, "I'm not an envious man, and if he really is the murderer then good for you. But I'm not going to just sit here and watch while you build a case that is going to be torn apart by a defence.

"You've failed to caution a suspect, and these questions, which are going to be the first thing that a defence attorney asks… the courts will make mincemeat out of it. Do you have any proof that Sirius and Achernar where ever lovers? (Beside them Achernar made retching motions) do you have any evidence that PC Chambers was involved with him? Are you—?"

"The evidence will come, Brakenby." Snapped Foundry, "Now if you don't mind." He began to drag Achernar away.

"Mr Muliphein you are under arrest for the murders." Barnaby called out after them, "You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention something when questioned that you later rely on in court, anything that you do say may be given in evidence against you!" he finished shouting as the door slammed closed behind Foundry and Achernar.

"Now what do we do, Sir?" Asked Jones.

"Oh, I really don't know, Jones." Barnaby sighed. "What do you think? Did Foundry get it right?"

"I don't know, sir."

"No. Neither do I. And I don't know that this case will even make it to court unless he has a lot more evidence than it seems like he does."

"Either way, it looks like we're finished here." Said Jones, gesturing around.

"Indeed. Perhaps we could have a pint down the pub."


	7. In Which There is an Old Bag

**CHAPTER-SIX**

**IN WHICH THERE IS AN OLD BAG**

Lucy and Allegra hovered around the trees on the outskirts of the woods waiting for Keely to arrive.

"I still can't believe Rebecca's gone" Lucy whispered miserably.

Of all the stardust spirits Rebecca was one of the ones who had helped her the most, along with Xanthe and Joanna, and Lucy found it hard to imagine the woods without her. She sighed and then glanced over at Allegra when she became aware that she wasn't responding.

"What's the matter?" Asked Lucy surprised to see her gazing off into the distance, looking completely distracted.

"Wha—? Oh nothing."

Lucy gave her a strange look that suggested that she didn't really believe her.

Allegra sighed, "It's nothing really; just that Xanthe's been very distracted this afternoon—but it's probably just that I'm not used to her not telling me something, that's all." she continued a little more briskly, obviously not happy about the thought.

"What's she not telling you?" Lucy asked her in surprise.

Allegra opened her mouth to reply, but a bright greeting of "Hi guys" from Keely broke them from their thoughts.

"Hi." Lucy and Allegra replied with a forced brightness. "You found us alright then at the edge of the woods?" Allegra continued.

"Yeah, but trying to convince my parents to stop making plans for the next few months and go to bed was a different matter though." Keely replied with a grin. "Seriously, it's like they want to plan out every minute of our lives for the next however long we're here."

"You're lucky to have such a close family…" Lucy commented without realizing she was going to say it.

"I suppose so." Keely agreed in surprise, looking as though she had not thought about it before.

"Come on, too much talking, let's go!" Allegra demanded impatiently "Bet I'll win a race to the glade" She added in challenge.

"Bet you won't" Lucy responded, and then giggled as she remembered the race they had had a few nights ago.

"What's so fu— hey!" She broke off as Lucy and Keely flew past her. With a brief pout, she shot after them.

They arrived at the clearing in a dead heat, and flew down to meet Faye, Ella and Robyn who were sitting in a small circle at the edge of the glade.

"Hi." They greeted one another.

"So, what do you think about the festival being over?" Allegra asked.

"It's such a relief!" Robyn sighed lightly.

"Is Joanna back to normal?" Faye asked.

"Sort of…" Robyn began slowly.

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" Allegra asked.

"Well apparently it was a big success despite everything that happened—so she's already starting to make plans for next year!" Robyn continued with a slight cringe.

Faye, Ella, Allegra and Keely couldn't help a giggle. Lucy remained conspicuously silent.

Faye looked at her in surprise "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine" she answered.

Ella gave her a sympathetic look. They all knew how fond of Rebecca she had been. "I'm really sorry about Rebecca." she said.

"Do you want to just stay around here?" Robyn asked.

"No it's all right." Lucy replied, forcing cheer, "Let's go and find out what were supposed to be doing tonight!" She added hurriedly, taking off towards the adults without waiting for the others.

The others looked at each other, and nodded before heading after Lucy, over to where the elders were talking.

"I'm no expert but I don't think that policeman fellow is very good at his job" Amelia Graves was saying.

"How come?" asked Samantha.

"Well..." Amelia began, but was quickly interrupted.

"Apart from insulting everyone in the village one day and closing down my lovely festival the next, he also failed to thank us for using the loud speaker, or apologise for the inconvenience he's caused us!" Thundered Joanna. "He's been thoroughly inconsiderate!"

"Err, yes. And as well as that he was in Anna's shop today trying to accuse _her_ of the murders." Continued Amelia considerably more placidly.

"There you go then, if he had done his job properly then Rebecca might still..." But Joanna trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

Just then Adam flew over.

"That idiot!" he thundered without preamble, "That arrogant jumped-up Inspector Thingy says I'm slow and out of date!"

"Really, why is that?" Joanna asked

"Because I don't have all my medical dairies and files computerised."

The others blinked

"You don't still have all your files on paper do you? What about the trees?" Said Joanna.

Adam glared at her, "You're not helping." he gritted out.

The young spirits laughed.

Joanna looked around "Ah, there you are girls!" She acknowledged as though they had only just arrived, "Is Xanthe not here yet?"

"No, but she should be here soon." Allegra answered.

"Never mind, I can talk to her then.

"Anyway, we think you're ready to try doing some different work." She continued in a less serious voice, "We want you to check the area between the aspen grove and the horse chestnut grove; you will need to search the thicket there and look for any endangered and/or protected animals—or any sign that they may have been there recently. We haven't had a look there this season, so we're not sure what you'll find there. Does all that sound okay?" She asked.

"It sounds great!" Allegra agreed enthusiastically; the others nodded in agreement.

"Then good luck."

They wandered away, "This is going to be fun!" Ella enthused.

"Yeah, I have to say I've never done anything like this before." Keely agreed, even Lucy looked significantly cheered up.

Allegra flew into the air and pivoted around, "Alright then, let's get going." She said bossily.

"Okay, how about we start at the horse chestnut grove and work across." Lucy suggested.

The others nodded and they all flew off merrily together.

* * *

><p>Elsie Cartwright started awake in the middle of the night, there was someone moving in the room! She tilted her head subtly to look over at the movement, and saw to her relief that it was just her husband, slipping on his dressing gown before slipping out of the room.<p>

She frowned, _where was he going?_

* * *

><p>As the younger Stardust spirits flew away, Adam pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket, checking it briefly.<p>

"You know you really shouldn't have that here." Said Joanna, spying him fiddling with it.

"What? Would you rather have someone drop dead instead?" Grumbled Adam.

Joanna frowned slightly, "What's the matter, Adam? You've been grumpy all day."

"Rebecca was murdered last night!" Shot back Adam, "Or has everyone already forgotten that? She was my friend!"

"She was all of our friend." Joanna assured him, "But she wouldn't have wanted us to mope around after her…"

"Says, you." Said Adam flatly. With a flick he tossed the mobile phone in the air, caught it and tucked back into his tunic pocket in one motion. "Anna hasn't rung up for her nightly whinge. I'm going to check on her." He said shortly.

"Would you like someone to come with you?" Asked Laura.

"No. A bit of time alone would do me well, I think." Said Adam, taking off back towards the village.

* * *

><p>They soon reached the grove, and splitting into pairs they immediately started their search, looking under logs, in pools of water, in between rocks, up trees, on leaves, in bushes and any ware else they could think of. In the end, they didn't actually see any rare animals, but Faye and Ella did find some partly eaten out hazel shells that they thought may have been left by Dormice.<p>

"Come on then, let's go and tell the adults." Proposed Lucy

Ella nodded and tucked one of the shells into her dress pocket, "Yeah, let's go." She agreed.

"I can't wait to see what the adults think of it." Allegra grinned

Just then a shout from above made them look up. It was Lizzie, Charlotte, Georgia and Isabella.

"But Issy, if we tell the adults we'll be in so much trouble!" Charlotte was saying.

"But we need help—we can't do this on our own." Georgia said hastily, obviously in Isabella's defence, "We've already tried to fix it on our own…"

At that moment Lizzie looked down and saw the older girls, "Look, there's Faye!" She cried in relief and flew down, closely followed by her friends.

"Lizzie?" Asked Faye resignedly.

"Please, you have to help us!" Lizzie begged, "Please, please, pleeeeeease!"

'What happened?" Lucy asked, having a feeling she might know.

"There's no time to explain!" Isabella gasped, "Just come! Please!"

The older spirits exchanged looks but then followed the younger spirits into the sky.

"You see we were practicing our magic and we kind of got out of control." Charlotte explained as they flew, a moment later they arrived at a clearing, some half a mile or so from where they had found the Hazel shells.

"It's a disaster." Georgia sobbed. As they looked down into it.

the older girls were instantly reminded of various times when they had burnt, frozen, flooded, blown down and over grown things before they had been able to control their magic powers—for the place was rather a sorry sight.

There was a small smouldering fire at one end of the clearing, but the rest of it had been almost completely burnt, suggesting that it had been much bigger. There was also a rather pathetic rain cloud at the only part of the clearing that hadn't been burnt, which was over-watering a mass of poison ivy that had run rampant all over that edge and any remaining unburnt plants or areas within the charred clearing.

Despite the miserable looks on the younger spirits faces, Lucy and Allegra couldn't help but laugh. The younger girls looked even more miserable.

"It's okay." Lucy said, taking pity on them, "We can fix it up."

"Rain, be with us." Faye and Keely said together, causing the cloud to swell to a much larger size, putting out the remaining fire.

"Wind, be with me!" Demanded Allegra, creating a gust that blew away the smoke.

"Plants, be with me! Heal and grow anew!" murmured Ella.

"Ivy, be gone." Put in Lucy.

"Wow, you guys are amazing!" Gushed Isabella, looking around the now perfect clearing in awe. The other three nodded emphatically in agreement.

"Thank you all so much!" Lizzie said gratefully "You won't tell the adults will you, Faye?" She added, "We'd be in sooo much trouble…"

"No, it's alright." Faye assured her looking around at her friends for confirmation.

"You're sorry and nothing really bad happened, that's what matters." Ella agreed.

"So, what exactly _did_ happen?" Robyn asked as the younger girls breathed a sigh of relief.

"Umm... well you see." Began Georgia.

"Issy was trying to regrow some chestnut branches that someone had broken off," Lizzie chattered in continuation for them all, "But instead, she accidently chocked the whole clearing with poison ivy. So then we thought that maybe I could try and burn it to make it go away."

"I didn't realize that I could make plants vanish as part of my powers as well." Added Isabella miserably.

Lizzie continued, "So yeah, I tried to make a fire but it took ages to finally get one going and when I did it was pretty tiny—it did eventually manage to burn some of the ivy though—but then I couldn't make it go out. Georgia tried to make it rain but the rain cloud was too small and wouldn't go where she wanted, so then..."

"I thought I'd try and blow it out!" Charlotte interrupted merrily. "You know, like a candle?"

The older spirits gave her an odd look.

"It didn't really work." she admitted sheepishly.

The older girls felt sorry for them but couldn't help the small giggles that escaped them.

Georgia sighed, "I don't think we'll ever be able to control our powers like you can." She said glumly.

"You will." Keely assured them, "It just takes time, that's all."

"But we've been stardust spirits for almost a year now and it still takes me ages to get a fire." Lizzie whined.

"And some spirits still struggle when they're a lot older and more experienced than you are." Lucy countered

"Yeah, in one of the groups that I was in for a while—in Scotland—there weren't any summer spirits who could light fires. So Mum and I tried to teach them, but it took ages and they still struggled each time." Robyn explained.

Allegra, never happy to be still for long, pirouetted with impatience, "Come on we should get going and show the adults that hazel shell we found." She hassled.

"You're right." The others agreed.

"Then let's go! We can race there; you four too!" She added, nodding to the younger stardust spirits.

* * *

><p>"Anna!" Adam called, banging the front door for about the thousandth time "Anna, open the bloody door!"<p>

"Old bag." He muttered to himself "Here I am trying to do her a favour…" He continued to grumble as he let himself in, using the spare key from under the nearest flower pot.

"Anna! Anna! Oh for god's sake Anna!" He frowned as he ascended the stairs, "Anna?"

He reached her bedroom and pushed the door gently open, "Anna?" He sighed irritably when he saw her lying still in bed, "Well you don't look like you're having trouble sleeping to me, Anna." He commented as he crossed the room.

As he got closer, his frown deepened. "Anna, are you okay?" He asked as he stepped up beside her. "Anna!" he called again shaking her arm. Only then did he see the empty bottle of pills lying beside her bed. "Good lord!" he exclaimed as he felt helplessly for her pulse, his other hand already reaching for his mobile phone.

* * *

><p>The Girls flew into the clearing at the same time as Xanthe<p>

"Hello girls." She greeted when she saw them, "What have you been up to?" she asked.

"We've been checking that area between the aspen and horse chestnut groves." Lucy answered.

"And look what we found." Ella added pulling the shell out of her pocket and handing it to her, "We thought it could have been Dormice" She added.

"Could be." Xanthe agreed "Good work." She turned to Lizzie, Charlotte, Isabella and Georgia, all of whom straightened up noticeably, "What about you? How are you going with your powers?" She asked them.

"Umm... Well..." Isabella began awkwardly.

"We were helping them out." Lucy cut in, trying to save the situation for the younger ones.

Xanthe looked pleased "And?"

"They're definitely getting better." Allegra reported with a straight face, "They're even starting to learn to work together."

Xanthe gave them a strange and opened her mouth as if to say something, but then she maybe thought better of it and just smiled instead, "That's great." She said, "It sounds like you're all doing well then. Do excuse me; I've got to have a word with some of the other adult spirits."

Charlotte breathed sigh of relief as Xanthe walked away, "Thanks." She said gratefully.

"That's okay." Allegra replied "But you should know you only just got away with it."

"What do you mean?" Lizzie asked nervously.

"Well, being an experienced autumn spirit, Xanthe can read hearts and minds." Robyn explained.

"Aww, that's a bummer." Charlotte began and then the first part of the sentence seemed to hit her and her eyes lit up, "Will I be able to do that too, someday?" she asked excitedly.

"Maybe when you can control your magic a bit better." Lucy replied with a small smile.

"Let's go and play." Lizzie suggested.

"Okay." Charlotte, Isabella and Georgia agreed and flew off to a far edge of the clearing; the older girls also wandered off, though to another edge of the glade.

"Xanthe was very late tonight." Ella commented, "Again."

Allegra frowned "Yeah, she's been very distracted this afternoon. Scratch that, the whole day actually."

"I guess she has a lot to think about." Keely commented casually.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Allegra.

"Well, what with the potential custody battle between her and Foundry…"

"Uh, what custody battle?" Asked Allegra with a strained grin.

"Yeah what would Xanthe and Doofus be having a custody battle about?" Robyn asked in surprise, "Do they even know each other?"

"About Allegra..."

"Why would Inspector Foundry, of all people, be interested in Allegra?" Lucy countered.

"Well I suppose because he's your father…" Keely answered slowly looking to Allegra.

"Uh, no he's not." Allegra replied with an amused smile.

"Oh? But Xanthe said—"

"Trust me; he is definitely _not_ my father." Allegra interrupted.

"What did Xanthe say, Keely?" Robyn prompted, looking interested.

Keely hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. "Foundry claimed that Allegra was his daughter, but Xanthe told him that she wasn't _his_, that after he had left them both in favour of his career he forfeited any right to her and she ceased to be his daughter. Then Foundry said that if he wanted to see Allegra there wasn't anything she could do about it, and that he'd start a custody battle immediately"

Lucy looked from Allegra to Keely, not quite sure who to believe. She couldn't believe that Foundry could be Allegra's father, but Keely was adamant in her statement, and why would she lie? A sinking feeling began to settle in her stomach.

Allegra looked frustrated, "Is that supposed to be funny? I'm not laughing! Stop making up stories!"

"But I'm not, honestly." Keely defended herself, looking upset.

"Keely!" Snapped Allegra, stepping close to her and staring her down angrily, "I said leave off it." Keely quaked.

"Allegra…" Started Lucy, putting a hand on her arm.

"No!" Said Allegra angrily, shaking her hand off, "It's not true! Take it back!"

Keely stepped back, "I'm really sorry." She whispered, unable to look her in the face.

Allegra stared at her for a long moment, "It's not true…" She protested feebly, desperately.

She looked over towards the adults; Xanthe was speaking with Joanna, Samantha and a few others. One of them evidently said something funny, as she threw her head back with mirth. Xanthe's eyes met Allegra's and the later quickly broke the contact, turning back to the others with her eyes full of tears. "I'm going home." She muttered, the words not really leaving her mouth. Without waiting for a reply, she turned and she flew away towards her house.

"Allegra, wait!" Lucy called after her, throwing a final look at her equally gob-smacked friends she flew after Allegra.

Lucy caught up with Allegra at the edge of a clearing about half way back to the village. Allegra had landed and now sat in the branch of a tree. Lucy flew down to join her and put her arm around her shaking shoulders.

"How could she not tell me?!" Allegra sobbed. "She knew all along! That's why she ran away from Anna's shop this morning! How could she not tell me?"

"I don't know." Lucy answered, thinking miserably about Xanthe's other secret, a secret that she had shared only with Lucy and Joanna, about her having been a dark spirit for a summer—she was going to have to tell Allegra, she had a right to know.

"Allegra?" Xanthe's voice called from the air above them, still a distance away, but getting closer fast.

Allegra grabbed Lucy's dress, "I don't want to talk to her." She pleaded.

Lucy nodded, "Let's go then." She whispered. Dragging her friend by the wrist, she camouflaged herself and pulled her down into gorse bush a few metres from the outskirts of the clearing, using her higher powers' shielding to protect them from the thorns. Catching on, Allegra camouflaged herself as well.

A moment later, Xanthe flew over the clearing, "Allegra, what's the matter? Allegra?" She called several times, casting a brief eye around the area. Lucy tensed as her eyes passed over the bush where they were hiding, but her eyes kept going, and after a moment longer she flew off, still calling out for Allegra.

"Is it bad that I don't want to speak to my own mother?" Allegra asked, sounding very small—more vulnerable than Lucy had ever seen her.

"No." Lucy assured her, "We all need a bit of space sometimes."

"I know; it's just… After this, what else has she not being telling me?" Allegra continued as they pulled themselves from the gorse bush.

Lucy swallowed uncomfortably. "Well, there is one other thing you should know…"

* * *

><p>By the time that Barnaby and Jones heard about the incident and arrived at the scene, Foundry was already strutting around, telling the coroners how to do their job. As they stood just outside the police tape, Adam Avencoft walked out of the house.<p>

"Doctor Avencoft." Greeted Barnaby as he changed direction towards them. "You've been 'released' I see…"

"From the clutches of the dark man himself." Replied Adam, though not with any vigour.

"What happened?"

"Bloody stupid woman." He said, "It says on every bloody square inch of bottle not to take more than one every two hours, and she goes and takes twenty of the things! She's lucky to still be alive!"

"How was she?" Asked Barnaby.

"Stable, the ambulance medics got here very quickly."

"Doctor Avencoft," Started Jones, "If she took twenty of the pills, what makes you so sure that it wasn't suicide?"

"She wasn't the type." Said the Doctor, "She enjoyed ticking people off too much to do away with herself. Excuse me." He said as he pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket.

"Or, then again, there's a third option." Said Tom, thoughtfully.

"What's that?" Asked Jones.

"Oh come on, Jones. Two people have died in two nights—both in distinctly odd circumstances. And then someone else is very nearly killed on the third all in the same village?"

"There's not much to tie them together, Sir." Said Jones.

"There's always something." Dismissed Barnaby, "And sleeping pills are a good bet with Mrs Thetique—everyone knew that she took them. And that she still complained about not getting to sleep."

"No!" Exclaimed Adam, interrupting their conversation. He shut his eyes and gave a brief nod. He hang up, staring briefly at the screen before turning back to rejoin them, "It's bad news I'm afraid—that was the hospital; it seems that Anna took a turn for a worse on the way. She was pronounced dead on arrival."


	8. In which There are More Arguments

**CHAPTER-SEVEN**

**IN WHICH THERE ARE MORE ARGUMENTS**

Xanthe heard Allegra coming down the stairs, the next morning, pattering lightly as if trying not to be heard. Xanthe frowned and put the kettle on for tea. She finished and turned around just as her daughter walked in, her eyes puffy as if she had been crying.

"Good morning." She said, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Said Allegra flatly sitting down with her hands full of her school jumper and bag.

Xanthe frowned, but did not comment on her unusually emotionless tone. "You ready to go to school?" She asked instead.

"Yeah." Allegra said, again without emotion as she pulled the jumper over her head.

"What's the matter, Allegra?" Asked Xanthe, unable to hide her confusion, "You and Lucy left very quickly last night, and you didn't come in until very late—I heard you. You're not in a row with Ella again are you?"

"No."

"Allegra, I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong…" She said as she reached out to lay a hand on Allegra's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Snapped Allegra, leaping out of her chair and positioning herself so that the table was between them. Xanthe stared at her in confusion and hurt. "You're what's wrong!" Shouted Allegra, "I've found out all about your dirty secrets now! Don't try to deny them!"

Xanthe felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach, she fell heavily into one of the chairs, and leant on the table as she asked the only question that remained, "Which?"

"Both." Growled Allegra, "How could you not tell me?!"

"Did Lucy tell you?" Asked Xanthe heavily.

"So what if she did? You lied to me!" Shouted Allegra, "I should have realised when you knew all those dark spirits by name."

"I had hoped that nobody would ever find out," Said Xanthe softly, "I told Lucy because of her powers, she needed to understand what the dangers are, apart from her, only Rebecca and Joanna knew."

"Lucy understands the dangers of stardust powers, better than you." Snapped Allegra, "She never went gallivanting around with Dark Stardust spirits!"

"You're right." Agreed Xanthe, although she felt like Allegra was twisting a knife in her gut with her words.

"And as for that—" She called Foundry something incredibly rude that Xanthe wondered where she had learnt it from. "—how could you not tell me that he was my father?! What gave you the _right_ to hide that from me?!"

"I never thought it would matter." Said Xanthe, "I thought we would never see him again."

"And when _were _you going to tell me?" Fumed Allegra, "When the police told you to hand me over to him?"

Xanthe turned very white. "So you know about that?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Allegra, everything I've done, I've done to try and protect you." Said Xanthe earnestly.

"Even kill people?"

Xanthe gaped at her. "You really don't think that I—"

"You lied about everything else." Allegra yelled, "I don't know what you could do anymore!"

"Allegra..." Said Xanthe, standing quickly and taking a step towards her.

"No! Stay back!" Shouted Allegra, backing towards the door.

"Allegra, I'm not going to hurt you! By tonight it will all be over."

"No! I don't want to speak to you ever again."

"Please Allegra, it really was all for your own good."

"My good? Or yours?" Snapped Allegra tearfully, before turning and running from the room, a look of fear on her face.

"Allegra!" Called Xanthe, running after her. She got into the hall just as the front door slammed shut. She hurried to it and pulled it open, running out into the front garden and looking both ways along the street.

Allegra had completely vanished.

With a troubled sigh, she turned and walked back inside. As the door clicked shut behind her, Allegra gave a sobbing sigh of relief from where she was hiding in the bushes.

Foundry arrived at Hyacinth cottage as a car departed from it, containing a woman and one of the young girls that seemed to keep cropping up everywhere he went. Not to be deterred, Foundry walked straight up to front door and knocked.

"Did you forget—" The man started as he opened the door, "Oh, Detective."

"Jerry Cartwright." Foundry returned.

"If you wanted to speak to Elsie again, I'm afraid she's taken Keely to school—it's her first day at a new one and all—"

Foundry cut him off. "I don't wish to speak to Mrs Cartwright; I wish to speak to you… Why'd you do it?"

"Sorry?" Asked Mr Cartwright in confusion.

"You did the murder." Foundry accused.

"What!? But I thought you'd already arrested that fella up the road!"

"There has been another murder. Anna the shopkeeper."

"Not _another_ one!" Said Mr Cartwright, "Do you always throw such welcoming parties when people arrive from overseas? It's a wonder that there are any of you left!"

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm, Mr Cartwright." Said Foundry, "Why did you come to England again?"

"My job moved. They wanted to shift several positions to the UK, and they settled on opening an office in Exciter."

"And so you moved to a village twenty miles away?"

"Oh, please, Mr Foundry. Where we were living before, in Australia, I had an hour and a half long commute every morning, twenty-five minutes will be nothing."

"Whatever. But then you foreigners always are strange." Said Foundry.

Jerry was about to respond, but the front door opened, and Elsie walked in. "Oh, Inspector." She said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Apparently, I murdered someone last night." Said Mr Cartwright.

"Well that's ridiculous; he was with me all last night." Said Elsie firmly. "You've got some nerve detective, why would we want to kill anyone here, we've only just moved in."

"Well, if you've got an alibi, then… well… we'll be in touch." Foundry finished in a fluster, before practically running to the front door. "But I would still advise against leaving the village." He warned at the front door, before Elsie closed it on him.

"Where _were_ you last night?" Demanded Elsie, as soon as Foundry was gone.

"I was with you, like you said."

"No you weren't, you disappeared! You were gone for at least twenty minutes!"

"I just went to clear my head in the front yard. You know I always used to do that back home—at least, back in Australia, why should I not here?"

"With a mass murderer in the village?"

"He was supposed to be in jail, last night. Though I suppose we should have known that that fuzz wasn't going to catch anything." He took Elsie by the shoulders, "You don't really think I killed that woman, do you? I mean, why would I?"

"No." Sighed Elsie as they embraced.

"So it looks like Inspector Foundry's case is starting to fall apart?" Asked Joyce, sipping a glass of orange juice while filling out a book of Sudoku. Tom was sitting beside a glass of beer, while Jones was keeping Joyce company with orange juice.

"So it appears." Said Tom, reading a booklet on the pub, "Achernar couldn't have committed the murders; he spent all of last night in a prison cell."

"I have to agree with you, Tom, he's not particularly likeable." Joyce agreed, "Did you know that he and Xanthe Greenwood were having a conversation at the festival yesterday morning?"

"Foundry? He was probably 'interrogating' her." Said Barnaby.

"It didn't sound much like an interrogation, to me." Replied Joyce, "It seemed more like _she_ was the one setting the pace of the discussion."

"Really?" Asked Tom, looking up from his booklet and taking off his reading glasses.

"Mmm." Joyce said, "She told him to meet her later, which was probably why Allegra Greenwood was at the Evans' house—she seemed to know him fairly well…"

"Maybe that's why he was, you know, in such a good mood when he first arrived." Said Jones, with an almost imperceptible shudder.

Barnaby grinned slightly, before turning serious again, "So how would she know him?"

"Who knows?" Said Joyce. "You know," She added after a moment, "Mrs Evans said that there was a bit of a split in the town between Miss Greenwood and her friends, and the other people in the village."

"Yes, I thought there might be." Said Barnaby thoughtfully. "There seems to be the two types, without much cross over, it's like there's a secret society in the village…"

"Strange though," Said Joyce, "I would have put Lucy Evans in the camp with the Xanthe's and so on. She seems to be quite different from her parents."

"Do you suppose that it's one group attacking the other? Like gang warfare?"

"Nah, I don't think so, Jones." Said Barnaby, "In fact that's what's been puzzling me is how there are seemingly no connections between the victims.

"Sirius Eridanus; lives by himself, seems to have no interaction with other people except to annoy them. Rebecca Chambers; local police constable, well liked by everyone in the village, we haven't met any one that's said a word against her. Anna Thetique; grumpy lady who runs the local shop, not exactly liked, but not hated. They all seem very different from each other…"

"Has Foundry let Mr Muliphein go yet?" Asked Joyce, still not looking up from her book of puzzles.

"No, that's something that's beginning to irritate me." Said Tom, staring out the window of the bistro at Foundry, who was bossing the police constables from town around as they and the forensic scientists picked through Anna's shop. "He has to let him go now with there having been another murder in the village."

"I'll go and talk to him, Sir." Said Jones, "He might be more considering from a junior officer—rather than feeling like you're stepping on his turf."

"Heh, he might. But I doubt it." Said Barnaby.

Ben walked out the door of the pub and quickly down and across the street to Anna Thetique's General Store, Foundry was yelling at one of the forensic scientists, telling them the proper way to bag the mail that they had found behind the door.

Ben pushed under the police tape that had been set up on the footpath, and stepped into the shop.

"Jones, wasn't it?" Snapped Foundry as Ben came up beside him, "What do you want?"

"Not much," Said Ben, "Got any leads?"

"No, not leads, I've already solved it! It's obvious that Anna Thetique killed both Sirius and Rebecca and then committed suicide because she knew that it was only a matter of time before I caught up with her!"

"Uh, okay. Also Sir, just wanted to know when you were going to release Mr Muliphein? He did spend all of last night in a prison cell of course, so he couldn't have done the murder."

"Look, Jones, as a superior officer; get lost! As I told your Barkingbee, I do not need fuddy-duddy policemen from other counties butting into my affairs; and definitely not their loser sergeants."

"Look, fella. I'm trying to do you a favour here—people are very quickly going to start asking why you haven't released him yet, and since you're so busy, I thought you might have just forgotten—"

"I do not forget anything, Jones. Achernar Muliphein is still in lockup because I want him there; now get the hell out of here! How anyone got to the level of sergeant with an attitude like yours is beyond me."

Jones sighed; he turned and walked away, giving a half smile in response to the sympathetic looks that the other police officers shot him.

"Well sir, I tried." Said Jones, plonking himself down in his chair again.

"What did he say?" Asked Barnaby.

"Oh, the usual, told me to take a hike, and that Achernar was there because he wanted him there."

"And?"

"It's nothing, Sir." Waved away Jones, draining the remainder of his orange juice.

"No, go on, Jones." Pressed Tom.

"He called me a loser, Sir, and then said he wondered how anyone with an attitude like mine could have become a sergeant. But it's nothing, Sir." He added quickly.

"He did what?!" Asked Tom, indignantly, "Well, that's going too far!" He sprang to his feet and pulled out his mobile, walking towards his and Joyce's room.

"Where are you going?" Called Joyce after him.

"To call in a favour." Responded Barnaby over his shoulder.

Joyce just shrugged, "Are you okay after that, Ben?" She asked.

"Absolutely fine." Said Jones quickly.

Barnaby's call to the Mid-Devon Police was pretty quickly put through to the head of the CID, "Good morning, Detective Superintendent." Greeted Barnaby, "This is Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby from Causton CID."

"_Good morning, Barnaby, what do you want this time? Not another murderer who's fled down here?"_

"Ah, no. No, not quite." Said Barnaby, "Look, Grant I'm on holiday down in Devon, and I'm afraid that I've come across a rather unpleasant detective from your force."

"_Let me guess, DI Foundry? What's 'e done this time?"_

"Regular trouble maker is he?"

"_Well, that's one way of putting it. He got sent down here from Cambridge a couple of years ago as a Detective Sergeant; they didn't want him. And _I've_ been trying to get rid of him ever since then._

"_I even had him promoted to try and get him transferred somewhere else, but that didn't work either… in fact all it _did_ do was give him an even bigger head."_

"Well, to be concise he has managed to insult everyone in the village here, if not personally then collectively. He's arrested a man without cautioning them and has come up with harebrained stories that will never stand up in court—without any evidence. And he has insulted myself, and been particularly rude to my sergeant." Said Barnaby, "Do I need to go on?"

"_No, let's not waste ink, shall we?"_ Said the Superintendent, _"He's gone too bloody far, this time—not cautioning a suspect?! I'll have to talk to the chief constable of course, Barnaby; but I'll see what I can do."_

Barnaby smiled, "Thank you." He said.

"_Good day, Inspector."_

"Good day, sir."

Robert stepped out of the police station in rather a grumpy mood, after having to feed a prisoner who no longer should be there. As he stewed silently by the door, Foundry drove up, again scaring all the birds in the area and half the people with the incredible volume of his music as he bobbed along in tune and screeched up to the curb.

"Ah, good day, PC Evans." Said Foundry, loudly to reach over the music. "Good to see you here_ bright and early_."

Robert lent down into the car and switched the ignition off. "It was my morning off, Inspector. Why is Achernar sill in prison?"

"Because I want him there." Hissed Foundry, "Is everyone going to come up and let me have it about him?"

"Well I don't know what it's like up in the big city, but we only have the one holding cell here, and if we have any drunk or disorderlies, we'll have nowhere to put them. And I'm afraid people who can't walk in a straight line are a higher priority over people who are just sitting there filling out your personal ideas of revenge. So as the custody sergeant of this station, either charge him or let him go." Snapped Robert. Foundry opened his mouth to object, but Robert cut him off, "I think you'll find that I have final say on this matter as long as he isn't charged."

Foundry glared at him, as he got out of the car. "Brandyby put you up to this, didn't he?" He glowered, before breezing past him into the station.

Foundry slammed the door into the holding cell area of the station. Achernar looked up from where he was sitting in one of the cells and fixed him with a stare. "What's happ'ning now then?" He asked.

Foundry glared back at him for a moment before announcing, "There have been some complications concerning your arrest, so I'm going to have to let you go."

"In other words, you blew it." Said Achernar with a small smile, "Well I'm glad ya've finally seen sense, U've got a heck of an amount o' work to do."

"Don't get cute with me, Muliphein—I'm still gunna get you charged with disorderly conduct." Snapped Foundry, going red in the face, "Now get moving."

"Well I would—if y'd be as so kind as to open the door." Drawled Achernar.

Foundry shot him a look that would have frozen a volcano before stepping over and unlocking the door. "Now, out!" He bellowed at him.

Foundry watched Achernar walk out of the station and turned away in disgust. He walked over to the table where there were still boxes full of files from Star Insurance and glared at it as if it were all its fault.

"Arrrggggghhhh!" He shouted suddenly, launching one of the boxes off the table and across the room. "Just when I finally catch the murderer, he turns out to be innocent!" He yelled in frustration. His mood was not improved when he heard the door wiz open and turned to see Barnaby enter with Jones following close behind. "What do you want, Barnby?" he asked stiffly, "Is it not enough that you've utterly humiliated me?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Said Barnaby, nodding to Jones, who at once picked up the telephone from across the front desk, "You know, I do believe that's the closest you've come to saying my name right."

"Pffft, I don't concern myself with trivialities like names of substandard police officers." Said Foundry haughtily, "Or I'd never get anything done."

"You know, I rung around. You've been passed off to three different police divisions, first from Belfast, to Cambridge, and then down here. Every time because of 'difficulties in working with other staff', or 'attitude clashes'; you've made yourself very unpopular over your career."

"As long as I get a conviction, who cares if I step on a few toes?" Said Foundry smugly.

"Oh, I totally agree." Said Tom, "Which is why I've been in contact with Mid-Devon CID about your somewhat frivolous law bending."

The grin slid off Foundry's face.

"Sir." Said Jones, holding up the phone, "The commissioner's on the line."

"Better give it to Inspector Foundry, then." Said Barnaby with no effort made to hide his smirk. "It is for him, after all."

Looking like he knew what was coming; Foundry tentatively walked over and snatched the phone from Jones' hand. "Yes sir?"

The commissioner had a booming voice that was audible even from where Jones and Barnaby were standing, though exactly what he was saying was impossible to tell. But they knew from Foundry's reactions that it was definitely something that they were going to like, and he didn't.

"What!? But I've almost… …yes sir… …they've been meddling the whole time— … …no Sir… … …but I don't… … yes Sir… if you insist, _Sir_." He said, saying the last 'Sir' as if he wanted to punch his lights out through the telephone. He slammed the phone down and turned around to glare at Barnaby.

"Oh, dear… not bad news I hope." Said Barnaby with a straight face.

"You've been put in charge of the case." Foundry grumbled as if the words were being dragged out of him, "Effective immediately."

"In other words, you've been kicked off it." Said Jones, unsympathetically.

"Not at all. I'm simply being transferred to somewhere where my talents will be put to better use."

"Whatever." Said Jones, unable to resist a grin, "So when are you leaving?"

"Oh, I'm not." Said Foundry, "Not yet anyway, I still have some _personal_ matters to take care of."

"See that it doesn't obstruct either DS Jones or myself," Said Barnaby, nodding to Jones, "Or you'll find yourself off more than just the case." The both of them turned and left the station.

"Arrggghhhh!" Foundry shouted, sending another box flying across the room.

"Ah, Inspector Barnaby." Said Miss Graves, as she met him and Jones at the front door, "Good to see you." She added as she waved them in. "I was so sad to hear about Anna, she's been a good friend to me these last few years,"

"We came to talk to you about her." Said Barnaby, taking a seat opposite her.

"You're not going to get into trouble I hope?" She asked.

"No, Inspector Foundry is no longer on the case." Tom said a touch smugly.

"Well, good for you, inspector, I never much liked him anyway." Said Miss Graves, "So tell me, Inspector, how was Anna killed?"

"She was overdosed on sleeping pills." Said Jones, "We found an empty bottle by her bed, Doctor Avencoft said that there should have been about twenty left."

Miss Graves sighed, "Poor Anna. It really is a shame she was so stubborn."

"Why do you say that?" Asked Barnaby.

"I tried several times to get her more involved in the village so that she had people looking out for her."

"But she was running the general store, surely that's getting involved?" Asked Jones.

"Well yes, Sergeant, but people don't _see_ you there—she was just part of the furniture. Whereas everyone sees me go past and says, 'look, there goes that crazy old Miss Graves again, I wonder what she's up to this time?' people notice me, and you wouldn't believe the amount of people who come to check up on me if don't show my face at the post office in the morning."

"And people didn't do this for Anna?" Asked Tom.

"Well no." Said Miss Graves looking crestfallen, "She always was a little hard to get on with, and most people didn't take the time to try. But I still don't know why someone would have wanted to kill her."

"We think it was someone fairly close to her," Said Tom intently, "There are no signs of a forced entry; it seems that someone used a spare key to let themselves in and then lock the door behind them. Do you know how many people knew where she kept her spare key?"

To his and Jones complete surprise, Amelia Graves burst into laughter. "I'm sorry." She said after getting her mirth under control, "But Chief Inspector, everyone knew where her spare keys were, it was the village's worst kept secret. She must have had dozens of them, and every time she forgot where one was, she assumed that someone had stolen it and went and got a new one made to 'replace' it."

"Didn't anyone ever tell her that she was leaving them everywhere?" Asked Jones in bewilderment.

"Of course not, Sergeant, she would have been devastated if she knew." Said Miss Graves.

"Right, well we're going to need a list of as many of those spare keys as you can remember, Miss Graves." Said Tom. "And also any remaining family that she might have."

"I don't know that she had any family left…" Said Miss Graves thoughtfully, "Oh yes, there was one. A niece who lived in Switzerland. As for the keys, have you got a while, Sergeant?"

"Sure." Nodded Ben.

"Well why don't we get the nice Inspector Barnaby to put on some tea while I start?" She said, smiling at Tom.

Tom gave a twitch of a smile and got up to do as she had suggested. Coming back a few minutes later with a tray of tea while Mrs Graves was still spouting out key locations. "…and there was one under the eaves of the house, it was blue tacked onto the beam you see… and one on one of the hydrangeas. Actually, there was one in a jar in the laundry too, the window doesn't shut properly you see, so you can reach the jar… And there was one under a rock in her duck pond."

"Right, that all?" Asked Jones, sounding as if he hoped it was.

"I mentioned the one in the box in the garden?"

"You did." Jones confirmed, checking his notebook.

"Well then there's just the one under the tile on the corner of the roof, then. At least, I think so—that's all the ones _I_ can remember." Said Miss Graves, "The doctor might know some more."

"Doctor Avencoft?" Asked Barnaby, taking a sip of tea.

"Oh yes, I fancy he knew even more of them than me… Oh wait! There was one under the broken paving stone in the footpath, she told me about it the other day. Ah, now thank you for the tea, Chief Inspector, do you take sugar, Sergeant?"

Xanthe answered the doorbell, hoping that it was Allegra back from school; instead, it was about the last person she wanted to see. "Haven't you caused enough trouble yet?" She snapped.

Foundry just grinned, "I've just dropped around to let you know that I've spoken to my solicitor." He said brightly, "You can expect the summons in the post tomorrow; although in a pathetic village like this, who knows whether the mail service is up to scratch." He smirked once more as he left, "I'm gunna take _your _daughter! I'm gunna take your daughter!" he cackled as he trotted back down the street to his car. Leaving Xanthe to slump against the doorframe.

Meanwhile, Miss Graves, who had been hiding behind a tree during the exchange, poked her head out. A thoughtful expression on her face.

Lucy and Allegra left Keely at her house and continued on down the street, they had had a good day at school, it had been a welcome relief from all the goings on at home; to just try and be normal children again. But now, on the home stretch, Lucy could see her friend walking slower and slower.

"Are you okay, Allegra?" She asked, and then mentally kicked herself. Of _course_ she was not okay. He mother had just been found out to be a complete liar.

"I don't know if I can go back and stay there." Whispered Allegra, fear in her voice and her eyes wide.

"Why don't you come and stay with me?" Asked Lucy, "I'm sure Mum would let you. Even if it's just for a couple of nights."

"Really? Thanks Luce—that would be great. I just don't know what to think of Xanthe anymore…"

"I'm sure Mum will be fine with it." Lucy reiterated. "Come on! We can see if Thumper will do that obstacle course again!"

Allegra gave her first true grin of the day. "Alright."

They sprinted the rest of the way back to Lucy's house, and slipped in the front door.

"Oh, hello, girls." Said Carol, coming to meet them at the door, "Have a good day?"

"Yes." Lucy answered, "Can Allegra stay over tonight? Please?"

Carol laughed slightly, "I knew that a week without one of you staying over at the others was pushing it. Of course you're welcome to stay, Allegra." She said. "You've let Xanthe know, I trust?"

"Of course." Said Lucy, before Allegra could respond differently, "Come on, Allegra, let's go and check on Thumper!"

"Sure!" Said Allegra, as they both dropped their bags and sprinted through the kitchen for the back door. "You'd better take those bags up to your room as soon as you come in!" Shouted Carol after them. She sighed and shook her head after them.

"Argh, this is bonkers!" Said Jones as they walked down the street that Anna's cottage was on, "Thirty different keys, Miss Graves gave me!? And she reckons there could be more besides!"

"Evidently the crime rate in this village wasn't that high until recently." Said Tom with a small grin. They ducked under the police tape that was strung across the gateway, and stepped into Anna's property.

"Well, here's the start of it." Said Jones, reaching into the letterbox and pulling out a key, "Just twenty-nine left to go."

It was one of the most bizarre treasure hunts that either of them had been on; There were keys under all the door mats, hanging off branches in the garden, in and under the flower pots that were dotted around the yard. Even in the tool shed there was a key on a hook, although the presence of an Adder curled up in the middle of the floor prevented either of them from going to retrieve it.

"So what does that take us to then, Jones?" Asked Barnaby as they sat on the back step for a break.

"Twenty-five—if you count that one in the shed." Said Jones drearily, "To be honest, Sir, I don't know how she could go for long enough without seeing one of the keys to think that she'd lost one.

"Ah!" He said having found one while idly been playing with the corner of the doormat they were sitting on, "Twenty-six; one under the back doormat." He ticked off as he put the key in a sealable bag with the others.

"Well it's safe enough to say that anyone in the village could have learnt about the location of any one of these keys and used it to break in." Sighed Tom.

"Plus there could be any number of extra ones that old Miss Graves didn't know about." Grumbled Jones, "Let's face it, Sir. This is getting us nowhere."

"I think, we should use one of these keys, Jones, to go in and take a look around, see if Foundry missed anything."

"Fine, anything's better than just loping around looking for rusty old keys." Agreed Jones. They stood up and unlocked the back door, letting themselves into the house. "Well, this is nice." Commented Jones dryly as they entered into a room with a whole lot of large portraits staring menacingly at them.

"William Thetique." Read Barnaby aloud as he looked at the signature in the bottom corner, "I s'pose that must have been her husband."

"Well, he certainly knew how to bring out their angry character." Said Jones, looking at one aptly titled 'the scarer'. "It's no wonder they got married, she would have been the perfect model for him." He added with a grin.

Barnaby glared at him, "Come on." He said, before walking into the next room. "I'll check upstairs, you take a look down here." He instructed before, grabbing the handrail and trotting off up the stairs.

"Nothing." Said Jones, coming up a few minutes later. "Nothing anywhere that indicates any signs of a problem."

"She lived a very lonely life." Said Barnaby, looking around her room, which he was currently searching, "Look at this place: No books, no diaries, not even any photos."

"There's a cabinet of knickknacks down stairs, sir. But apart from that, I haven't been able to find any personal stuff either."

"So what do we make of her, Jones? Could Foundry be right for a change, and she killed the others before killing herself?"

"Is there a motive for her to do that, Sir?"

"No. That's the problem I have with it too." Sighed Barnaby. "Come on, it's beginning to get late, let's go and have a quick chat with Doctor Avencoft, and then call it a day."

Xanthe was getting worried, it was getting late, and there had still been no sign of Allegra. With increasing worry, she tried the most logical alternative to Allegra coming home—she dialled the Evans'.

"Hello, Carol? It's Xanthe here."

"_Uh, hello Xanthe. Is there a problem?"_

"Yes, is Allegra around at your place?" Xanthe asked.

"_Yes. Did the girls not let you know that Allegra was staying around? They said they did, hang on let me call them—"_

Xanthe let go a sigh of relief, "No, that's alright." She said, having a pretty good idea why they hadn't contacted her, and though it hurt her, she wasn't going to push it, "I remember now, I did say she could if it was alright with you—I've just been so busy today; the last week really, and then with the murders and all… It just slipped my mind."

"_Okay then. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye."_

Xanthe miserably slumped into the chair under the phone as she hung up.

"Good Evening, Doctor Avencoft." Said Barnaby as he opened the door.

"Chief Inspector, I'm afraid I'm with a patient now, so please make it quick."

"Oh, who?"

"Sorry? Who?"

"Who is with you?" Asked Barnaby.

"Oh. Mrs Myres from the next village, we're about half way between here, so I get people from both villages a lot." Answered Adam.

"Fine then, well I won't keep you long." Said Barnaby, "I just wanted to know if you knew of any extra spare key hiding places that Anna Thetique might have had." He handed him Jones' notebook of all the locations.

"I didn't think that you were in this investigation." Commented Doctor Avencoft as he scanned through the list.

"That has all now changed." Said Barnaby, "I am heading up the investigation."

"I see. Well there are no extra that I can think of off the top of my head." Said the doctor, "But I'll have a think about it… she did have rather a lot didn't she."

"Indeed she did." Agreed Barnaby. "Keep us informed if you think of anything."

"Sure."

Foundry pulled over on the road out of the village as his phone went into its third ring cycle, and answered it roughly, "What #?! He demanded, wrenching the parking brake on.

"You?!" He sighed irritably, "Haven't I had enough of you yet?"

"Well, well..." He said, sounding interested, "What do you want? … …A meeting? … …Oh really… …Well I think we can arrange that… what time? ...Eleven tonight? Done…"

He hung up with a malicious grin.


	9. In Which Someone Has a Barbeque

**CHAPTER-EIGHT**

**IN WHICH SOMEONE HAS A BARBEQUE**

Why does he have to be _my _father?" Allegra asked no one in particular, as Lucy and Allegra waited for Keely at the edge of the forest once more.

"You could always just try and forget about him," Lucy suggested.

"I can't, every time I try to pretend he doesn't exist, he pops into my head again." Allegra complained.

"Well, with any luck he'll be gone soon."

"I hope so," Agreed Allegra "Although at this rate we might never get rid of him. And besides; if he wins that custody battle…" she continued with a sigh as she stared into the distance. "I don't know any more, Lucy. Xanthe lied to me, but could you imagine having to live with that creep? Maybe I could move in with you!"

"That'd be great!" Lucy exclaimed, and then sighed, "Mum would have kittens though. Hey look, there's Keely" she added a few moments later.

Allegra followed her gaze and saw Keely flying towards them.

"Hi Lucy, hi Allegra" she greeted

"Hi Keely" they greeted quietly

"So, did you hear Doofus had to let his murderer go?" She smiled.

"Yep," Lucy replied trying to sound cheerful. Truth was though, she was anything but; she still found rather shaken by the whole thing about Foundry being Allegra's father, and didn't really feel like talking to anyone other than Allegra at the moment. But she forced herself out of that state of mind, trying to convince herself that it might make her feel better.

Keely seemed to work out that they did not really want to talk about it and changed the subject, "Should we get going then?" she asked.

Allegra nodded, "Yeah, let's go." She looked back at her house before soaring up into the sky.

"Robyn's not here yet." Keely noticed when they arrived at the clearing.

Lucy looked down and saw that she was right—Faye and Ella were standing alone—but just shrugged, "They live in the town and don't like to leave until it's been dark for a while; so it's not unusual for us to get here first during the lighter months of the year," she explained.

"You're all very careful here," Keely commented.

"How do you mean" Lucy asked as they flew over to where Faye and Ella were standing beneath a tree.

"Well, back in Australia we never really worried that much about flying in the evening near towns or where there are lots of people." Keely answered, she considered, "Although, I suppose mostly they were only small towns, and given that we had to travel for an hour just to get to the glade, maybe they figured we could be a little more lax…"

Allegra shrugged "I suppose it's just a matter of what you get used to,"

"Hello." Ella and Faye called as they flew the rest of the way over to them.

"Hi." Allegra, Lucy and Keely chorused in return.

"Have you had a nice day?" Lucy asked.

"Yes thanks, it's been pretty good," Ella replied and Faye nodded "How about you?"

Allegra groaned and Lucy quickly spoke up, "The usual more or less, Foundry had to let Achernar go," she said, shooting a concerned look over at Allegra after saying that name, "And we spent the rest of the time in school."

"And I had a good old yell at Xanthe; don't forget that." Muttered Allegra.

Faye and Ella were wisely silent.

"Did you have a good first day at school, Keely?" Faye asked at length.

"Yeah, it was a bit different, but fine." Keely nodded.

"Hey, guys! Have you heard the news?" Robyn's voice cut into their thoughts, they all span round to see her flying quickly towards them.

"What?" Ella asked cautiously.

"You know that feast we were going to have at the end of the festival?"

"Yeah. But it was cancelled."

"Well apparently we're still going to have it, but it's been postponed, until the murderer has been caught." Robyn continued, looking towards Lucy and Allegra.

"_If_ they're caught." Snorted Allegra, "By that stupid detective."

Keely quickly changed the subject. "Should we go back to that area we searched last night and see if we can find any more signs of the animal that's been eating those nuts?"

Lucy nodded, "Yeah that's probably what the adults will want us to do—so there's probably not really any point bothering them by going to ask." She added.

Ella did not look entirely convinced about going without asking, but Lucy shot her a pleading look and she seemed to think it was better to agree on this occasion, "Let's go then." She said reservedly.

Once again, they flew to the horse chestnut grove and started to search, splitting into pairs to help speed the job up. But despite her best efforts, Lucy found that she just couldn't enjoy herself, she could tell that Allegra, flying beside her, was unhappy too, and that she too, couldn't seem to be able to think about anything other than Foundry and Xanthe.

"_ANY LUCK?"_

Robyn's question cut into Lucy and Allegra's thoughts and made them both jump.

"No!" Lucy managed to reply after a moment, before they then went back to their search.

"This is silly." Allegra exclaimed at last, "We can't concentrate, and if there was something here, surely we would have found it by now!"

Lucy was inclined to agree but they were nearly at the aspen grove now and she figured they might as well finish "It's just a little farther."

Allegra sighed but relented and kept searching.

However, by the time they reached the aspen grove they still had not found anything. "Told you there'd be nothing." Grumbled Allegra. "I'm just not in the mood for this sort of pointless searching tonight."

"Look here come Ella and Faye," said Lucy feeling relieved.

"Did you find anything?" Ella asked as she and Faye landed.

Lucy and Allegra shook their heads, "No. And I take it you didn't have any luck either."

"'Fraid not." Ella returned, sounding considerably merrier than either Lucy or Allegra felt.

"Then we may as well—" Lucy began, before a thump and a squeal made her look behind her, to where Robyn had obviously just fallen over something and was lying in an ungainly heap on the forest floor, just to the side, Keely struggled to keep her balance after tripping over her.

"You okay?" Faye asked.

"Yeah fine." Keely answered.

"That's easy for you to say…" Grumbled Robyn, picking herself off the ground, and brushing off her dress.

"Did you find anything?" Faye giggled.

Keely shook her head "No, but..." just then a screech from above made them look up.

"Oh look!" Faye gasped. The others all saw what she was referring to, on a branch just above them, two squirrels were fighting near a nest.

The girls flew up for a closer look and saw that one of them was obviously protecting its nest from a passer-by squirrel. They watched them fight for a few minutes before the outsider finally retreated; leaving the other one to triumphantly scamper back to its nest.

"Oh boy, red squirrels!" Robyn breathed, "They're a protected species"

"And look there are babies too," Keely added peeking into the nest in the small hollow of the tree. "And those hazelnuts! Like what we found last night!"

Ella nodded, "This is great, let's go and tell the adults."

The slight amount of excitement that had come to Lucy and Allegra over the group's discovery visually left their faces at Ella's suggestion. However, the others were evidently too excited to notice, and kept chattering excitedly:

"I bet they'll be very happy. The red squirrels have been decreasing in numbers rapidly, and certainly there haven't been any in this forest for a while—not that anyone's known about anyway," Faye said, "Our school did a project on them last term."

"Great, then let's go and tell everybody then." Keely cried enthusiastically. The others nodded and they all flew back to the clearing.

"WHAT! Beetles?!" Charlotte was howling as they approached.

"All creatures in the woods are important, Charlotte, and Blue Ground Beetles are some of the most protected species in this area." Joanna said with a frown. The younger spirits exchanged indignant looks, but said no more. Instead, they started off towards their task, looking far from impressed.

"Hello, girls, I was beginning to wonder if you'd all come tonight. How can I help?" Joanna asked.

"We found some red squirrels! And there were babies too!" Robyn burst out, "They were what's been eating the hazelnuts we found!"

"That's wonderful!" Joanna beamed "Squirrels are crepuscular animals, so they tend to come out at dawn and dusk which makes our job a lot more difficult; being only around during the night. We will add them to our list of animals to keep an eye on. Good work."

"Well, that was great." Ella said cheerily as they made their way across the glade.

"Yeah, those baby squirrels were soo cute!" Faye agreed; then she frowned as she scanned around glade, "Strange that Xanthe isn't here..." She commented.

"I suppose she found something better to do," Allegra said coldly, so much so that the others all turned to make sure it was she who had said it.

"Are you okay, Allegra?" Asked Robyn.

"Fine." Allegra snapped, and then she slumped as she sighed. "Sorry, I'm just not at all in the mood tonight. I shouldn't have come. Let's go home, Lucy." She said

Lucy nodded, "Bye guys; see you later." She said quietly, looking at the others apologetically before they took off and flew for home.

* * *

><p>Jason Foundry pulled up to the curb on Flora Avenue, several doors up from Xanthe's house and turned the ignition off.<p>

Chuckling to himself, he opened the door and stepped out, but at once started in surprise. A dark hooded figure blocked his way. Foundry could not see their face in the moon shadows of the elm trees.

"Who are you and what do you want?" He bellowed impatiently, not afraid to yell at someone that he did not know the identity of. He frowned as the person made no attempt either to move or communicate.

"Look, buddy; what's the meaning of all this? I'm a busy person; I don't have time..." He cut off as the cloaked person raised their hands. A moment later, an unbearably strong electric current started to surge through him, he was completely paralysed as every muscle in his body spasmed. For a moment, he was aware that he was falling backwards, but then as he landed, everything went black.

An evil smile cut across the figure's face as it watched the lightning show continue for a few seconds more, before it turned and moved away from a job well done.


	10. In Which the Case is Closed

**CHAPTER-NINE**

**IN WHICH THE CASE IS CLOSED**

Good morning." Said Keely, running out to meet Allegra and Lucy as they walked past on the way to school.

"Hi." They returned subduedly in unison.

"Still upset about Xanthe, huh?" Asked Keely.

"Wouldn't you be?" Snapped Allegra.

"Sorry!" Squeaked Keely quickly, "I mean why wouldn't you still be upset? I mean it's not like my parents have… ah, I mean, I just… I think I'll shut up now…"

"Sorry, Keely." Said Lucy, "I'm afraid we're just not very good company at the moment."

"That's okay, I understand." Nodded Keely, "I'm sure I would be too if I found out he was my father."

"It's not even just that he's my father." Grumbled Allegra, "It's that Xanthe never told me! She knew for a full day that it was him here in the village, and she tried to cover it up."

"I'm sorry; I never meant to upset you." Said Keely, "I didn't realise that you never knew…"

"Speak of the devil." Said Lucy, pointing ahead to where Foundry's convertible was parked on the opposite edge of the road. The car had its roof up, but even from where they were standing they could see that the car looked like it had driven through a fire, there were scorch marks on all the rims, and some of the paint was bubbling.

"Look at that car!"

"Disaster." Lucy agreed with a grin. "I wonder what happened to it."

"Let's take a look." Said Allegra, giving a quick glance up and down the quiet road before stepping across it.

Lucy and Keely followed her.

"Wow, this really is a sorry sight." Said Keely as they approached from the back corner. They looked in the back window at the marginal amount of storage space behind the seats, and then moved along to the passenger window.

"I wonder where he—? Ah!" Allegra recoiled in horror as she looked across to the driver's seat. The three girls screamed and fled back up the street. In the driver's seat, sat the smoking and charred remains of a human body.

* * *

><p>"What's going on in this village?" Asked Barnaby as he looked at the remains in the car. "It's beginning to rival Midsomer for the amount of deaths in a single spree. Who found the body?"<p>

"The three girls, Sir." Said Jones, gesturing to where the three of them were being fussed over by Sergeant Evans and Elsie, "Lucy Evans, Allegra Greenwood, and a girl from just up the street, Keely Cartwright."

"And do we know for sure that it's Foundry?" Asked Tom, leaning down to stare at the blackened corpse.

"No, Sir, but it's his car, so it seems likely."

"The question is then," Said Barnaby, straightening up, "Is what is he doing parked all the way up here?"

"Visiting Xanthe Greenwood?" Suggested Jones.

"Then why park all the way up here? It must be three hundred yards, and it's not like there is any problem getting a park." Mused Barnaby, looking up and down the otherwise empty street.

"Maybe he wanted it to be a covert meeting." Jones considered.

Barnaby said nothing, gesturing for the medical officers to continue working as he stepped back from the car. "What do we know about the other deaths?" He asked, pulling the head of the team aside.

"Well, if you gave me a break for a day, I might be able to get a bit further." Said the pathologist tartly. Barnaby just frowned at him, "The first body, I'm not sure of the cause of death; all of the soft tissue has been destroyed, but there is no damage to the bones, so you can probably rule out blunt force trauma. The second body was definitely strangled though."

"And what about the third?"

"Haven't had a chance to look yet." Said the pathologist before turning back to oversee the removal of Foundry's body from the car.

"Well, Jones." Said Barnaby, as he led the way towards the girls who were sitting on the low wall on the other side of the street, wrapped up with blankets. "If Foundry was here to see Xanthe, then that makes your girlfriend top suspect."

"She's not my —" Jones sighed and broke off. "We need a motive though." He pointed out.

"Which we may get here." Said Barnaby before walking up to the three shocked looking girls. "Do you remember me?" He asked gently.

"Inspector Barnaby, Sir." Nodded Lucy.

"You were on your way to school, were you?" He asked.

The three nodded.

"What made you look in the car?" He asked.

"We noticed that it was damaged." Said Keely.

"And that it was Foundry's." Added Allegra "And we wondered what it was doing here."

"And Miss Greenwood? Why isn't your mother here?"

"She doesn't know, yet." Said Allegra flatly. Tom raised an eyebrow, "I was staying with Lucy last night."

"Well, do you want someone to let her know?"

Allegra shook her head. "She knew Foundry, you know, Inspector." She said, "Before I mean. She called him 'Jason'. He was my—" she broke off with a sob.

"Yes?" Probed Barnaby gently. Allegra formed several words, but nothing quite came out, her friends on either side of her, looked supportive, but said nothing in addition.

"Was he your father?" Asked Jones, Barnaby glanced up at him with an indeterminable expression.

Allegra nodded.

"She only found out the night before last." Said Lucy, hugging her friend supportively.

"Did your mother tell you anymore?" Asked Barnaby.

A look of anger flashed over the girl's features. "She didn't tell me anything." She said harshly, "She lied to me."

"She kept it a secret." Keely added, "I only found out by accident, I overheard her talking to him, and then I mentioned it later to Allegra…"

"And she'd known all along." Choked Allegra, "Ever since she saw him in Anna's shop, and she wasn't going to tell me… And then she said that everything she'd done was for my own good." Barnaby glanced meaningfully at Jones.

"I wonder if she really even cares about me…" Continued the girl miserably.

Barnaby hesitated slightly, "I think, your mother cares a great deal about you." He said at last, "But I can understand you not wanting to talk to her at the moment.

"Robert, take the rest of the day off." Said Barnaby, glancing up at the uniformed policeman, "I think they could miss school today."

"Thank you, sir." Robert nodded, "I've already spoken with Brad—PC Kayle, he's going to take over today, and I'll do the night shift."

Barnaby nodded. "Right, well, thank you all, girls." He said.

"Very perceptive, if thoroughly untactful." Said Barnaby to Jones as they walked away.

"About Foundry being her father? It just came to me on the spur of the moment."

"Well either way, you guessed correct. And it's a pretty good motive if Xanthe is trying to protect her from him."

Jones sighed, "Typical." He muttered, "Are we going around there, now?"

"No, quick detour back to the station, check Foundry's phone records for yesterday." Said Barnaby, "Let's make sure we've got this one right."

"Yes, Sir." Nodded Jones, as they climbed into the car.

"Here we go, Sir." Said Jones, dropping the printout onto the desk in front of his boss, "Eight O'clock yesterday evening, phone call from Willow Cottage to Jason Foundry's mobile. Lasted forty seconds—it was the last call before he died."

Tom pushed away the Star Insurance file on the fishpond overflow, and picked up the stapled printout. He glanced at the final entry and then flipped through a couple of the other pages for the preceding week. "No contact before then though, evidently."

"Mrs Barnaby said she heard them talking at the festival remember, Sir?" Said Jones.

Barnaby nodded. "Alright, let's go then." He agreed, picking up his jacket.

* * *

><p>Tom and Ben pulled up directly outside Xanthe's house, and both got out in unison. With a quick glance at the police presence still down the street, they walked up to the front door. Barnaby knocked three times.<p>

There was the sound of footsteps pattering down the hall, and a moment later, Xanthe opened the door. "Detectives." She said, sounding only half surprised.

"May we come in?" Asked Barnaby quietly.

"Sure." Sighed Xanthe, having a brief look down the street at the police cars before letting them in and closing the door behind them.

"I regret to have to inform you that Jason Foundry was found dead this morning." Said Barnaby, looking critically for Xanthe's reaction. Her tense was barely perceptible but unequivocally there.

"Well I can't say I'm _really_ sorry. I suppose whoever found the body had a good old dance." Said Xanthe, recovering quickly as she led them into the kitchen.

"I doubt that, Miss Greenwood, because the one that found the body was your daughter." Said Barnaby.

"Allegra?" Xanthe's eyes widened, "She found him?"

"Indeed, it would not have been a pleasant way to fine ones father."

Xanthe wilted, "I'm prepared to coöperate fully, Inspector Barnaby." She said.

"Oh, I'm afraid it's rather too late for that." Tom said quietly.

Xanthe blinked at him.

"Xanthe Greenwood, I'm placing you under arrest for the murders of Sirius Eridanus, Rebecca Chambers, Anna Thetique and Jason Foundry," Said Jones. Xanthe shook her head mutely, "You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court." He continued, "Anything you do say may be given in evidence against you."

"No, you've gotten it wrong, Inspectors." Denied Xanthe, "I haven't killed anyone."

"You have killed four people, Miss Greenwood." Said Barnaby sadly, "Jones."

Ben nodded and stepped behind Xanthe, pulling her arms back behind her where he cuffed them together.

"Time to go." Said Barnaby.

Xanthe nodded glumly.

They led her out into the street, and directed her into the car. From across the road, the Cartwrights looked on as Barnaby got in and flicked the police lights on. Mrs Graves looked up from where she and her gardener were discussing the front garden arrangement as they drove past. Lucy and Allegra looked out the window as the car turned the corner onto the main street…

* * *

><p>Carol sat back with a cup of tea in the staff room for recess, sighing as a couple of the other teachers argued over what they were going to do about a couple of trouble students. She had learnt long ago that it was not worth getting involved. She picked a biscuit off the plate on the table and took a bite out of it, thinking about what she was going to do about her next lesson, when her phone rang.<p>

A couple of the other teacher's glared at her, but Carol just sighed and excused herself, ducking outside to take the call. "Hello?" She answered.

"_Carol?"_

"Xanthe. What can I do for you?"

"_I'm afraid it's rather embarrassing—I've been arrested, can you please look after Allegra for me?"_

"What? Arrested? Xanthe what do you mean—"

"_I'm sorry, Carol, they won't give me time to tell you now, just please promise me you'll look after Allegra—"_

The connection cut out.

"Xanthe?" Called Carol in vain. Frowning, she speed dialled her husband's mobile, "Robert?" She said without preamble, "Have you heard—apparently Xanthe Greenwood's just been arrested…"

* * *

><p>"What do you think, Lucy? Could my mother really have killed all those people?" Asked Allegra as they both sat on Lucy's bed, staring down at the back garden below. "Before yesterday I wouldn't have thought so… but I'm not so sure now."<p>

"I never would have thought she could have been a dark spirit either." Sighed Lucy dejectedly.

"You're right." Sighed Allegra, "The problem is we don't know what she's capable of."

"But surely she wouldn't have killed Rebecca, she was her friend." Murmured Lucy.

"I don't know, Lucy, if she was really worried about getting caught… she might have, you did hear that when Rebecca rang up, she told Xanthe that she knew who the murderer was, didn't you?"

Lucy nodded.

"She might have snapped. I don't know."

"And she really hated Sirius… and Foundry." Mumbled Lucy. "But what's going to happen to you while Xanthe's in jail?"

"I don't know… Maybe I could live with you!"

"That would be great." Lucy smiled.

The two of them were silent for several long moments, "What's it like to have your stardust stolen?" Asked Allegra eventually, referencing the time that Lucy had been forced to put her own stardust into a dark spirit orb to protect it from an ancient ritual.

"It hurts a lot." Said Lucy, "It's like someone's squeezing your head in a vice. And then you feel like part of you's gone."

"And then it's theirs forever." Shuddered Allegra.

"Or at least until someone breaks their orb." Said Lucy, with the faintest of grins.

* * *

><p>Joyce walked leisurely up the footpath of Flora Avenue, taking in the lovely village cottages and their superb gardens on her way back up to the main road. The early afternoon shadows of the tall elm trees growing along the road shaded the footpath while leaving the gardens still brightly lit.<p>

"Oh, what a lovely garden." She said as she came across a garden filled with foxgloves and small ferns. A couple of small lavender bushes grew on either side of the front door, giving credence to the property's name of _'Lavender Cottage'._

An old lady stood in the middle of the lawn in the front garden, watching a gardener as he pulled out weeds and dumped them into a plastic pot.

"Hello." She said cheerfully as she turned around and saw Joyce standing there, "Do you like it?"

"I think you've done a great job with it." Nodded Joyce.

"Oh, I'm afraid Bill here does all the work." Said the lady, hobbling over to the fence, "I just stand here and tell him where to put what."

The gardener looked up and saw Joyce, and gave an earnest if somewhat shy smile and wave before going back to the weeding. "Oh, well you've both done a great job." Joyce said, loud enough for the gardener to hear, then at a more normal volume she added, "I wish I had a garden this size… but we live in a house in Causton, and there really just isn't the room you've got here."

"Are you that nice Mr Barnaby's wife are you?" Asked the lady, slowly pulling a pair of secateurs out of her pocket and snipping at the early dead buds of the camellias growing by the front fence.

"Yes I am; how did you know?" Asked Joyce, a touch surprised.

"Most of the other people from Midsomer have all gone home by now I would have thought." Said Miss Graves, "Now that the blockade's gone. And besides, you suit him. I've spoken to him several times—I was the one that found the first body, you know."

"Oh, how dreadful."

"It was. There wasn't much left of him, the poor chap, I would have thought there would at least be charred bits of flesh remaining, but it was all just bones and ash." Miss Graves continued gaily. Joyce felt sick.

"Anyway, if you want to see a really nice garden, you should go up and see Xanthe Greenwood's garden at Willow Cottage, it's only two doors up, and she and her daughter have done a _wonderful_ job." Said Miss Graves, then she added more quietly, "I do wish the Evans' would do up their front garden a bit more though, they do their bit with the weeding, but well… it is rather boring." She pointed out the rather plain looking yard, with the garden beds in neat arrangements of Jasmine bushes and the odd trimmed box hedge to break it up a bit, "Nice and trim and proper is Mrs Evans, nothing like their backyard which is full of Silver Birches and ferns and hydrangeas." Continued Miss Graves.

Joyce however dragged the conversation back half a step, "Xanthe Greenwood? Isn't she the one that they've just arrested?"

"Oh yes…" Miss Graves wilted, "I suppose it shouldn't really be a surprise, after the argument she had with that Mr Foundry the other day, but it is. Did you know that after eleven years of doing nothing for Allegra—not even paying maintenance—that Mr Foundry was going to try and claim custody of her?" Asked the old lady sounding outraged.

"No, I didn't know that." Said Joyce, sounding interested,

"Poor Miss Greenwood got very upset about that." Miss Graves added, "He told her that the courts would be more likely to believe a policeman than a single mother, and that he'd easily win the battle." She leaned closer to Joyce, "Then he said that he would tell the courts that she'd been abusing Allegra—the idea that she'd do anything like that is absurd! Poor dear, she cried for an hour after that."

"Oh dear, no wonder she killed him…"

"Yes." Said Miss Graves, sounding almost disappointed, "But despite all that, I really didn't think that she'd kill anyone." She frowned up at the sun, "I suppose it just goes to show that life never stops surprising you."

"Well sorry for bothering you, Miss Graves, and keep up with the garden, it really looks fantastic." Said Joyce, giving her a short wave before turning to depart.

"Not at all dear, thanks for the chat; you must stop by for a cup of tea next time you're in the neighbourhood."

"I don't know, Joyce." Said Tom, resting his head on the roof of the car, "I've got a woman sitting in a cell, and I don't have the foggiest idea why she did the murders; I can guess at some, but…" He trailed off.

"This is Xanthe Greenwood, is it?" Asked Joyce, climbing out and walking around onto the curb.

"She has no alibi, she had good motive to kill Sirius Muliphein, and I can stretch it to her killing Rebecca Chambers and Anna Thetique if she thought they knew about it. And she had an excellent reason to want Foundry dead too, I just can't work out why she would kill him last night when the damage was already done and the secret out."

"Well—" Joyce started, as they walked together into the pub.

"I mean, it may be as Jones says," Tom continued, cutting her off, "That it was for revenge, but that just doesn't sit right with me."

"Well, I was talking to that Miss Grave—"

"All of the murders fit the profile of someone who was desperate to avoid exposure, but deliberately inviting him back when he no longer poses a threat… I can't see that… Sorry, were you saying something, Joyce." He asked as he fell into one on the bar's arm chairs.

Joyce glared at him, "I have been trying to tell you something for the past two minutes now."

"I'm very sorry, Mrs Barnaby, the floor is yours now."

"Well… I was _going _to say that Jason Foundry was taking Xanthe to court over custody of Allegra, according to Miss Graves. Apparently he said that he had some friends, and he was going to claim that Xanthe had been abusing her."

Tom sat up straighter, "Really?" He said.

He laughed, "Of course that makes sense! I've been wondering all this time why she would kill him when he was leaving the village, and everyone already knew the secret anyway. But that explains it all." He said happily. He gave Joyce a kiss on the cheek, and then sped towards the door. "Jones. I know why she did it." He said into his mobile on the way out.

* * *

><p>Barnaby and Jones walked into the interview room, where Xanthe waited, a lawyer from the town sitting beside her. "Sorry to keep you waiting." Said Barnaby, flicking the recording tape on. "Tell me about Jason Foundry and you."<p>

"Jason?" Asked Xanthe, "Oh Jason and I go a lot further back than I really care to admit."

"Yes, my sergeant here would like to know why a pretty woman like you would end up with someone like him?" Barnaby said, causing Jones to glare scandalised at the back of his head. "Surely you could have had anyone you wanted."

"Well, that starts a long time ago, when I was a lot younger and more foolish." Said Xanthe bitterly, "I fell in with a bad group of people, Inspector Barnaby, a gang of sorts; my best friend at the time, Joanna Jackson, she didn't approve of it at all, and refused to speak to me. But I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing; that she'd come around eventually."

"And did she?"

"No. But after a whole summer of me staying in the group, they caught Joanna, and demanded that I…" Xanthe broke off with a shudder, "What they wanted me to do, it was worse than killing her. But I helped her escape instead. You see it was only then that I realised just how much I had changed, how much that sort of power would cost me…"

"Is that s'posed to make us feel sorry for you?" Asked Jones flatly.

Xanthe continued as if he had not said anything, "I didn't really tell Allegra, or Lucy the whole truth when I spoke to them about it; I told them that that had been the end of it, but in truth…" She sighed, "…in truth, Joanna didn't forgive me that quickly. We both found ourselves at Cambridge together, but we were doing different courses, and it was always all too easy to avoid having to talk to each other.

"So we didn't. I started going off by myself, I met Jason Foundry when he was a uniformed constable and we started dating… he was an ambitious idiot even back then, but I convinced myself I was in love with him… I don't know, maybe I thought that I could change him, and somehow make up for what I had almost done. What I had done.

"Either way, one thing led to another, and I found myself pregnant with Allegra." Said Xanthe, gazing off through the wall. "And Jason…? Hah! Jason didn't even want to know—said it would damage his career if it got found out that he'd made someone pregnant out of marriage. I tried to track him down, but he disappeared, moved from where he had been staying, and wouldn't answer my calls. I hadn't heard from him for twelve years until Sunday." Said Xanthe bitterly. "In that time, of course I had Allegra; I made up with Joanna, and moved down here… I thought I could forget about it all. Put it down as a bad mistake and move on."

"Live happily ever after." Barnaby finished.

"Yes. Well then he turned up _here_ of all places! I didn't realise that he was the detective that everyone was complaining about at first. I was fetching Mrs Simpson at the time of his famous announcement… And I can't remember anyone else mentioning his name after that, or if they did, maybe it just didn't register. It wasn't until I walked into Anna's shop and saw him there that I realised…"

"And panicked." Said Barnaby, he lent back slightly "Miss Graves and Keely Cartwright both told us that you had an argument with him on Sunday. And that he was taking you to court over Allegra." He continued, "But why? Why was he suddenly interested in Allegra now after not wanting anything to do with her before she was born?"

"That's my fault." Xanthe said, shame faced, "I was terrified that he'd work out who Allegra was, and say something to her, and I couldn't let her find out about him, certainly not like that. So I sought him out at the festival and told him I wanted to meet with him during lunch—I thought that everyone would still be at the festival then, not hanging around on the street listening in on private conversations. By the time it occurred to me that it had been cancelled, it was too late… Anyway, I tried to warn him off talking to her… I rather blew it though; I lost my temper with the things that he was saying; his sneering about how easy it would be to win a custody battle… Then when he threatened to say that I abused her I snapped. I-I threw something at him. And that's when he told me that he'd only been joking, but now he was seriously going to follow through on his threat."

"And that's why you killed him?"

"No! I didn't kill him! I didn't kill any of them." Denied Xanthe.

"You'd do anything to protect your daughter!" Countered Barnaby, "Sirius was always a pain, everyone in the village agreed on that, and he had refused to pay out on your fish pond damage…"

"_Ah well, what would you expect from someone with your past, Xanthe?"_

"And then, when he threatened you with the knowledge of your secret, you knew that you had to act."

"_Oh, you... I was expecting someone else." Said Sirius, opening the door a bit wider._

_Xanthe brandished a long cord of rope, at him, and Sirius, realising what she was intending to do, fled in panic. He made it as far as the kitchen before Xanthe reached him, throwing a loop over his neck and then pulling tight as he tried to run for the cutlery draw._

_He fell to the ground convulsing as Xanthe pulled tighter, before eventually stilling._

"And then you knew you had to get rid of the evidence." Barnaby pressed, "Though I'm not sure why you went to so much effort to try and protect the rest of the house—I can only assume so that the flames wouldn't be detected until you were well clear."

_Xanthe doused Sirius with a water and phosphorus and then rolled him onto a woollen blanket, she set fire to it and then stepped back as the flames engulfed the dead man._

_She went to leave, but then changed her mind and threw the rope into the fire to burn as well. As the flames at last began to die down, Xanthe stepped forward and removed the blanket, letting the smouldering remains to fall onto the floor._

"No. That wasn't me!" Xanthe protested.

"And then Rebecca, she rang you and said she wanted to talk to you because 'she knew who the murderer was', I suppose she thought she was giving you a chance to come clean. But you knew that you couldn't allow her to live with that information, and after all, she was your friend, why should she expect an attack from you?

_Rebecca smiled in relief as she saw Xanthe at the door, but as soon as she turned around to let her in, Xanthe again wrapped a rope around her neck and pulled, dragging her back into the garden in order to keep the pressure on._

"You're wrong."

"And then Anna. Well Anna was a shrewd and not all together honest person. She probably thought that she could make a few bob out of your reaction to Foundry at the shop.

_Xanthe slipped into the house having used one of the many spare keys and snuck up the stairs. She entered Anna's bedroom and took the bottle of sleeping pills off the bedside table. She tipped the contents into a gloved hand._

_Then she carefully slipped one hand behind Anna's head and raised it, tilting her head forward. With a quick movement, she slapped her hand full of the pills across Anna's mouth, forcing them down as Anna woke up with her eyes bulging._

"You killed them, Miss Greenwood." Said Barnaby.

"No! You're making a mistake, Inspector." Insisted Xanthe, "I never killed anyone."

Barnaby and Jones looked at her in cold silence as she broke down, sobbing into the interview table.

* * *

><p>Jones walked around the yard of Willow Cottage, studying the paths that wound through the back yard and the gently flowing willows down on the bank of the creek. The infamous fishpond seemed to have been fixed, because it sat full with water, with a trickle falling into it over a rock at one end, and thick lily pads clustering at the other.<p>

It was all very pretty Ben could not help but notice, and in the still twilight, he could not help but wish that he had a camera with him. But looking at someone's backyard wasn't what he'd come here to do. Stepping up onto the back veranda, he tried the door and found it ajar.

He frowned.

He stepped in carefully, trying to remain silent. He could hear footsteps on the floor above, soft but erratic, leading Jones to suspect that there were at least two people. He tiptoed up the stairs, and across the landing, creeping along the wall to a room with a slightly ajar door and light shining under the bottom.

He could hear muffled voices from inside, but was unable to make out what they were saying, deciding that he had had enough sneaking; he threw the door open and bounced inside.

"Ah, you two?" He exclaimed as Allegra and Lucy who had been standing around a bag on the floor screamed at the intrusion. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my house, what are you doing here?" Asked Allegra, holding a fist to her chest in shock.

"Well right now, you're living next door, and your mother in being held under police custody, which means it's a crime scene." Jones sternly corrected them, then his voice softened. "But since you're already here, what are you up to?" He sighed.

"Allegra needs some more clothes and stuff." Said Lucy, "She only had one change in her school bag."

"Alright, fair enough. But please, you two, when you've finished, don't come back inside. We don't need people ringing us up saying that people are looting the place, okay?"

"Sure." The two girls nodded.

Ben sighed and returned down stairs, he briefly looked through the darkening house, before heading back to the back door. But just as he was about to leave, a book on the kitchen table caught his eye. It was a plain hardbound leather diary with the initials L.E. in one corner.

L.E.

Lucy Evans he supposed. He thought for a moment of calling out to the girls, telling them not forget it on the way out, when he realised the oddity of the book.

"Why would Lucy Evans' diary be in Xanthe and Allegra's house?" He muttered to himself. The obvious answer of course, was that they had brought with them when they had come over to get the clothes, but somehow the book looked like it had been placed deliberately on the table, not just casually left there—as if someone had put it there with the intention of reading later at the table.

He picked the book up and was fairly quickly rewarded with the answer to how it had gotten there, a slip of paper slid out onto the table with a hand written note on it:

'_Dear Xanthe and Allegra,_

_Thought you might be interested in reading my diary from last year. It's all old stuff now, of course, but I thought some bits might make you smile._

_Lucy'_

Jones looked carefully at the book, wondering if it might explain some of the village's secrets a bit better. Somehow, the whole affair did not sit right with him, and maybe this book would hold a clue to exactly what it was that was troubling him. "Bye, Mr Jones." Said Lucy and Allegra as they passed the kitchen, heading towards the back door.

"See you later." Jones nodded distractedly.

He had one last glance around the kitchen, before picking the book up and tucking it under his arm; following the girls out.

Flicking the lock on as he slipped out the door, he closed it behind him and walked away, back toward the village main street.


	11. In Which People Gaze at the Moon

**CHAPTER-TEN**

**IN WHICH PEOPLE GAZE AT THE MOON**

Tom Barnaby lay in bed, looking up at the full moon hanging in the clear night sky. Beside him, he heard Joyce stir, before rolling over and going back to sleep. He wished he could do the same.

Something about the whole affair just did not sit right with him; Xanthe Greenwood had motive and opportunity to commit the murders, yet for some reason that he could not put his finger on, he was not happy.

Further frustrating was the fact that it was the murder of Jason Foundry—the one that on paper looked the most convincing—that he was most unhappy with. He could see her killing him all right, but he could not see her calmly ringing him to lure him to his own murder. He had followed the line of thought that it was because Foundry was threatening to take her to court over Allegra, but something was still off because he could not see Xanthe as anything else than an impulse murderer—someone who would kill on the spur of the moment.

He thought back on his old cases, wondering if any of them could give him a hint, but all that occurred to him was that his gut feeling was nearly always right, even when his mind tried to persuade him otherwise.

He sighed, heavily and long. He would have to have a talk to Jones in the morning. Xanthe had not yet been formerly charged with the murders, and he had a feeling that to do so would be a mistake.

* * *

><p>Ella and Faye darted around the stardust glade, playing tick as they waited for the others to arrive. "I hope Lucy and Allegra are okay." Faye sighed as Ella caught her again.<p>

"They didn't seem very happy last night, but then who can blame them? I was dumbfounded, and we don't know Xanthe like they do." Agreed Ella, thinking aloud.

The two of them alighted on a tree branch overlooking the glade, sitting on the smooth bark while the other spirits arrived and greeted each other.

"Hi, guys." came a voice from above them.

"Keely." Ella said in surprise, "Where are Lucy and Allegra? Are they not coming tonight?"

"You haven't heard?" Asked Keely in surprise.

"Heard what?" Faye asked, she and Ella glancing at each other apprehensively.

"Xanthe's been arrested for the murders, the police took her this afternoon."

"_What!?_ Not Xanthe!" Ella spluttered.

"I'm afraid so," Keely replied looking at their totally shocked faces "Allegra's staying over at Lucy's for the moment, but they didn't feel like coming tonight…"

There was a whoosh of air as Robyn arrived and flew to them. "Hey guys, how are you going...?" She saw their shocked expressions, "What's the matter?"

"Xanthe's been arrested for the murders," Faye answered expressionlessly.

"WHAT!?" Robyn exploded, considerably louder than Ella had been.

"What's the matter, Robyn?" Joanna asked coming over. "I think they probably heard you back in town."

Robyn swung around, "Mum, the police have arrested Xanthe for the murders!" Robyn answered.

Joanna's eyes widened and her face paled with fear "No, surely not," She whispered to herself, looking blankly off into the trees. "No." She insisted vehemently, shaking her head, "Many things Xanthe may be, but she is _not_ a murderer."

"We should go and check on Lucy and Allegra." Said Faye concernedly, "Make sure they're alright."

"No, I think they may just want to be left alone for a day or so." Said Joanna, "Give them some space, and then we'll check up on them." She turned her attention to Keely, "Where _is_ Xanthe? I should see her."

Keely blinked uncertainly, "Umm... at the police station in the village I suppose—she was taken this afternoon, so I don't think they would have taken her into town or anything yet."

"First thing tomorrow then." Joanna mumbled to herself.

"Um, what would you like us to do tonight then?" Ella asked hesitantly.

"Hmm? Oh, just anything you think needs doing or checking." She replied distractedly.

"Great. Then how about we go and see the deer then?" Robyn suggested to the others with false brightness.

"Okay." They agreed mechanically. Leaving Joanna to stare up at the moon with a troubled expression, they flew away to find the heard of deer. As they flew, they also looked up the lunar disk, wondering how Lucy and Allegra were coping with the news.

* * *

><p>Robert stood on the footpath outside the police station, gazing up at the moon, its bright light reflected from the sun brilliantly illuminating the main street. When he had been little he had enjoyed astronomy, and the moon had always been one of his favourite things to look at. Even now, he enjoyed spending an odd minute or two staring up at the pale disk, knowing that its light was reflected from the sun. Carol thought him silly for it, but he could not help but do it when he got the chance.<p>

Particularly when he was troubled.

He had never thought, and he still could not get used to the idea, that he had had a murderer living next door to him. Neither he nor Carol had really been friends with Xanthe Greenwood, but they had gotten on well enough, and they had all respected the friendship between their two daughters.

He had never suspected that someone like her could have had a relationship with someone like Inspector Jason Foundry, or have killed four people. "You never can tell with bees… or some people." He murmured to himself.

"Well done, Robert." Someone called from the other side of the street, walking home from the pub, which was in the process of closing. "I heard that you guys got the murderer!"

"Well, the detectives more than me." Robert responded, squinting into the moon shadows on the other footpath to try and make out who it was.

"See you tomorrow." The person said as they kept walking.

"Yeah, see you then." Robert returned vaguely. With a last quick glance up at the moon, he turned and walked back inside the station.

* * *

><p>Xanthe sat uncomfortably on the bed in her cell, her back resting in the corner of two of the cold brick walls as she hugged her knees to her chest and looked out at the moon, hanging in the black sky over the village.<p>

She could not sleep, she just kept thinking about what would happen if she was convicted of the murders and sent to prison. With four murders as her charge, she would be away for at least twenty years. Would Allegra come and visit her? Her daughter had been so angry with her before she was arrested; she wondered if she would ever speak to her again.

A lump began to rise in her throat as she realised that she could miss the rest of Allegra's childhood. She could not face that. She would have to hope that the jury would acquit her.

She laughed bitterly, who was she trying to kid? _She _wouldfind her guilty given the evidence.

Several tears leaked from under her eyes as she realised once again that it was finished, she had lost her daughter and her freedom. There was only one more thing in her life that mattered to her, and once she got to prison, that might as well have been lost too. Her stardust would be no use whatsoever in jail.

With the sound of a key scraping in a lock, the door to the cell block opened, and Robert Evans who was on duty for the night entered and looked in through the bars.

"Want a tea or something?" He asked flatly.

Xanthe shook her head. "Is Allegra okay?" She croaked hoarsely.

"She was understandably upset." Robert replied neutrally, "But she'll be okay."

Then he was gone, and the cellblock door clicked shut and was locked again.

* * *

><p>In Jasmine cottage, the house was silent and still, Hope and Rachel were both asleep, as was Carol in the main bedroom. Only Allegra and Lucy were awake, sitting on Lucy's bed and looking up at the moon and watching the moonshine filter down to illuminate the garden below.<p>

"Do you think that Xanthe was ever just like us?" Asked Allegra quietly, lest they wake the other, sleeping, members of the household. "Just interested in stardust and animals?"

"You don't realise how tempting that wish for more power is." Countered Lucy sadly, "I never told you how close I came to agreeing to learn from Maggie." She shuddered, waiting for Allegra's reproach.

It did not come.

"But you didn't." Allegra said, "Which makes you already different from Xanthe."

"I guess." Lucy agreed.

"I used to be quite jealous of people who had a father, you know." Said Allegra, changing the subject slightly, "It was something that I never had… Well what a big disappointment that turned out to be; I think I liked it better without one at all… and now I don't have a mother either."

"Xanthe does really love you, Allegra." Said Lucy rubbing her friend on the back, "I'm sure of it. People are saying that that might be why she did the murders in the first place."

"Oh great, that makes me feel so much better." Grumbled Allegra, "It's my fault that—"

There was a thunderous crash, sounding as if someone had pushed a whole lot of metal rubbish bins down the stairs in Willow Cottage, it went on and on, before eventually echoing into an uneasy silence.

"What was that?" Whispered Lucy frightfully to Allegra as they peered out the window on the other wall of the room, this one a small one that looked out over Allegra's house.

"Do you suppose its sergeant Jones again?" Asked Allegra, with equally wide eyes. "Maybe we should go and check…"

"Mum would kill us if she found out—" Lucy began before hearing footsteps on the landing floorboards. "That's mum!" She hissed. They both threw themselves into bed and covered themselves with the bed-sheets, pretending to be fast asleep. But the footsteps went down the stairs instead.

They both rushed over to the window again, and a moment later, they heard the back door slam and Carol Evans, her hair dishevelled and wearing her dressing gown walked down around the side of the house. "We should go back to bed." Lucy whispered, "Mum will be back in a moment, and we don't want to get caught awake again."

"Okay." Allegra agreed. Both of them climbed back into bed quietly, and tried to sleep.

* * *

><p>The night air was chilly on Carol's bare legs beneath her dressing gown and nightdress. She padded around onto the front path and onto the grass of Willow cottage's front lawn. The dreadful noise had woken her from the middle of sleep, but even so, she was almost positive that it had come from Xanthe and Allegra's house.<p>

She walked carefully up to the windows of the sitting room, peering into them over the line of hydrangeas and scanning carefully for any hint of a light or any other sign that someone was in the place, but there was nothing.

In the bushes nearby, a dark shadow lurked, pulling a branch of a tree aside with black leather gloves as they watched Carol intently. It saw her look in first one window and then the other. She began to move towards the shadow's end of the house and the shadow pulled back quickly, rustling the leaves ever so slightly as it did so.

Carol jerked her head around at the sound, seeing the branch of one of the bushes along the side wall gently bob as if it had been released. She slowly crept over to it and pulled it back.

Nothing.

She headed back for the road, wanting to get back indoors where she could call the police. She had almost reached the gate when there was a thud on the ground behind her that made her jump in fright.

She turned around, looking for what had made the impact, and saw a jagged white object sitting in the garden edging. With her frown deepening, she walked over to it, but as she leaned to pick it up, something hit the back of her head with a mighty blow. She collapsed sideways as her vision faded, a few more of the same thuds hit around her in quick succession before another blow to the head caused everything to go black.


	12. In Which it All Falls Down

**CHAPTER-ELEVEN**

**IN WHICH IT ALL FALLS DOWN**

Morning." Said Jones as he swept into the police station, early in the morning. "Long night?"

"I'm getting too old to be pulling these." Yawned Sergeant Evans. "It's been quiet at least."

"You can go home, if you want." Suggested Jones. "Kayle 'll be here in ten minutes, and I can cover for you for that. Go home and have a sleep."

"Thanks Jones." Said Evans, yawning again as he got to his feet and washed his cup out in the sink. "Miss Greenwood's been coöperative enough; just sat there most the times I've been in. She's had a drink a couple of hours ago, but that's it."

"Right. I'll pass it onto Kayle when he comes in." Said Jones as Robert walked towards the front door.

"See ya."

Once he was gone, Ben walked to the back of the station and opened the door into the cellblock. "Sergeant Jones." Said Xanthe flatly as he walked in, "Come to interrogate me again?"

"No." Said Ben, walking over to the bars, "I don't think you did it."

Xanthe looked up at him, something resembling hope flashing across her eyes.

"No, I think you were desperate, looking for anyway to get out of the situation where Foundry could take Allegra, but I don't believe you could lower yourself to murder."

Xanthe stood up and walked over to the bars, "What does your boss think?" She asked.

"I haven't spoken to him yet." Said Ben, "I don't know what he'll make of it, but I promise I'll do anything I can to help you."

"Thank you, Sergeant, that's very kind of you." Said Xanthe.

"Just call me, Ben." Said Jones, "I've got to go and mind the shop, but I'll do my best for you, you have my word."

"Thanks." Said Xanthe earnestly.

They both stood there, neither moving for a long moment, before the station's phone rang, jerking Jones out of his thoughts. He quickly darted out of the room, leaving Xanthe to look after him.

Robert yawned drowsily as he arrived back at his cottage; he turned up into the driveway and clicked the car off. He stumbled out of the car and around to the back door. In the kitchen, Lucy and Allegra were pouring themselves a glass of water each, and Hope stood in front of the microwave, doing her school tie in the reflection from the darkened glass door.

"Hi, Dad." The two Evans girls said, accompanied by a "Hi, Mr Evans." from Allegra."

"Morning." Robert responded tiredly, "Where's Rachel and your mum?"

"Rachel's still having a shower." Said Lucy, a touch grouchily, leading Robert to believe that there had probably been some sort of argument over it.

"And Mum's hasn't got up yet." Said Hope, tucking her collar down, "I was about to go and get her up."

"No it's alright, stay and have your breakfast, I'll go and get her." Robert muttered. He trudged up the stairs and was almost bowled over by Rachel hurrying down them, mumbling a quick 'hi' and then about how she was running late, "That's what'll happen when you spend too long in the shower." Robert called after her.

He made it to the top of the stairs without any more interruptions and opened the bedroom door. "Carol?" He called as he walked in.

"Rachel! Allegra's a guest! Couldn't you let her use the toaster first?" Lucy exclaimed.

"No, its fine—" Allegra said quickly.

"And I'm late for school," Rachel said, "And you two aren't going… So I think that I might have more of a need to use it first." At that moment, their father came back in, looking worried, "Is Mum coming?" Asked Hope, who was eating an apple and avoiding the whole argument over toast.

"She's not there." Said Robert, stopping Rachel and Lucy's bickering in its tracks.

"What do you mean? Where else could she be?" Asked Rachel.

A horrible thought struck Lucy, "She went out to investigate a noise from Allegra's house, last night." She said, causing Allegra's hand to fly to her mouth in equal horror, "We never heard her come back, I just thought we had fallen asleep."

Robert crossed the kitchen in two strides, "Stay here." He ordered them, throwing the door open and running out around the house.

Of course, being children of around the age, none of them listened to their father, and ran out after him, Allegra with them. They got to the front of the house just in time to hear an exclamation of "Carol!" from Robert.

By the time they got to the road, where they had a view of Willow Cottage's front yard, they saw Robert kneeling beside a lady in a dressing gown clutching her hand. Even though Robert was blocking their view of her head, Lucy knew straight away that it was their mother.

"No, Mum!" She was not sure, which of her or her siblings had screamed first, only that the next moment, they were all running towards her body as fast as they could. Robert heard them coming, and despite everything, still had enough presence of mind to grab Rachel—who had gotten there first—and stop her from throwing herself at her mother.

"No Rachel." He said, "W-we can't touch her, the detectives will want to see…" His voice broke, as Rachel who was already crying buried her head in his chest.

Lucy and Hope arrived there only a second later, but both heeded their father's word, and did not touch their mother, even though every atom of them wanted to. Lucy looked down at her mother, who was lying face down in the grass, a large amount of blood matted hair sticking to the back of her head. Even had their father not confirmed it, she would have known at once that she was dead.

With a great sob, Rachel let go of their father and turned to Lucy, much to her surprise grabbing her and hugging her as though she would never let go. Lucy returned the embrace as Robert put one arm around both of them, and his other around Hope, doing his best to comfort them as Allegra hovered uncomfortably in the background.

"I'll go ring the police." She said, feeling as though she did not really fit in with the family tragedy. She was not sure whether they had heard her or not but ran off to do it anyway, while the remainder of the Evans household cried together on the lawn of Willow Cottage.

* * *

><p>Barnaby arrived as Jones was putting a blanket over the body of Carol Evans lying in the grass. "Sir." He said as he saw him get out. "The medical officer says he'll be here in ten minutes." He said as Barnaby walked up.<p>

"Who found the body?" He asked.

"Her husband and their daughters." Said Jones, "I haven't asked them anything yet, I just sent them back inside. They were all still out here when I arrived."

"Yes, you seemed to get here remarkably quickly, Jones." Commented Tom.

"I was already at the station when the call came in." Said Jones, "I'd sent Sergeant Evans home, he must have found her when he arrived back."

"Is that right?" Said Barnaby, looking thoughtfully at the ground around the body, "What do you make of these impact marks?" he indicated a dozen or so hemisphere shaped divots in the lawn.

"Don't know, sir, the killer maybe took several tries to hit her… Maybe she put up a fight." Suggested Jones.

"It's possible."

They both looked around as a patrol car came whizzing up with its siren and lights going. It pulled to a stop and PC Kayle got out, running over. "I'm impressed, Detectives, you got here quick." He said as he approached them.

"The joys of staying in town." Said Barnaby. "Can you stand guard over her, Kayle? Jones, check the house—see if there's anything out of place, she may have heard something and come to investigate."

"Sure." Said Jones, pulling Xanthe's confiscated keys from his belt and making his way to the front door. Barnaby turned and walked into the next house, even as more police cars started arriving. He went around the back of Jasmine Cottage and knocked on the kitchen door. Seeing through the glass panel the occupants of the kitchen looking up in surprise.

He opened the door and walked slowly in.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." He said.

"Promise me you'll catch this basted, Barnaby." Said Robert from the end of the table.

"I'll do my best." Tom assured him. "Do any of you remember her going out last night?"

"Yes, I do." Sniffed Lucy, "Allegra and I couldn't get to sleep (Tom noticed for the first time that Allegra was sitting on the bench top in the corner, looking rather uncomfortable), and we heard this loud crash coming from next door. We saw Mum go out, but I was worried that she might find us awake so we went back to bed and tried to go to sleep." She said, looking devastated. "It's all my fault; I should have gone out and seen if she was okay…"

"Lucy." Said Barnaby, squatting down beside her, "It's not your fault, there is nothing you could have done, had you been there."

Lucy nodded glumly.

"Did any of the rest of you hear the crash?" Asked Barnaby of the other two girls.

"I heard something," Said Hope quietly as Rachel sobbed beside her, "But I just thought that it was part of a dream, and so I just went back to sleep."

"I-I didn't hear anything." Rachel said, "I'm a heavy sleeper, just like– like mum usually was." She broke down again.

"I think it might be best if you all went next door and watched something." Said Barnaby gently, "It won't do you any good to sit here thinking about it."

"B-but what about s-school?" Rachel asked, looking at her father.

"No school today, Rachel, Inspector Barnaby's right. Why don't you go and put the TV on, something to take your minds of it, I'll come and join you in a moment."

The three girls nodded and walked out, Barnaby looked across to Allegra and nodded to her, "You too, Miss Greenwood, I'm sure Lucy would appreciate a friend."

Allegra nodded and followed the others out.

"I'm sorry; I'm not going to be able to work." Said Robert, as soon as the girls had left. "I have to look after the girls… and I just can't face it at the moment."

"No, no. Take as long as you need, Robert." Said Barnaby soothingly, "We'll catch this guy."

"I take it you're going to release Xanthe Greenwood?" Asked Robert.

"Possibly, would you like her to pick Allegra up?"

"Whatever Allegra would prefer."

"Well, you make sure that you don't spend the whole time looking after the girls, make sure you have some time for yourself too." Instructed Barnaby, "Okay?"

Robert nodded mechanically.

There was a tap at the door, Tom looked around to see Jones standing there, gesturing urgently. "I'll leave you alone." He excused himself. "What is it, Jones?" He asked as soon as he had closed the door behind him.

"I really think you should come and look at this, Sir."

"Here." Said Jones he showed Barnaby into the kitchen of Willow Cottage. On the floor, looking like they had spilt out of the pantry cupboard where a couple of tins of tomatoes and soups… and a coil of smooth nylon rope. "And over here." Opening the cupboard under the sink to show a can of petrol and a set of jumper-leads.

Barnaby sighed in confusion and irritation, "Well that throws out my thought process a bit."

"Exactly, Sir." Said Ben.

"You misunderstand me, Jones. I was thinking that Xanthe was innocent." Said Barnaby, looking at the evidence, "Now it seems that there might be _two_ murderers instead."

"No, no, Sir." Said Jones with a grin, "That's the best part; this stuff absolutely, positively was _not_ here last night."

"Wasn't here last night? How would you know what was here last night, Jones?" Asked Barnaby suspiciously.

"I was here, I came for a look around, and I found Lucy Evans and Allegra Greenwood here. They'd come around to get some more clothes for Allegra, I left after them, and I spent several minutes poking around the kitchen; none of this stuff was here then."

"So whoever murdered Carol Evans was probably surprised while planting this." Said Barnaby, waving his arm around at the faux-evidence.

"Exactly, Sir." Said Ben.

"Well then it probably wasn't your girlfriend after all, then Jones."

"Sir!"

"Right, well get all this bagged up and send it to the lab, see if they can get any finger prints." Said Barnaby, turning to go, "Good work, Jones."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe Mum's gone." Lucy whispered as she sat with Allegra on Lucy's bed, "She never did anything to anyone, why would someone want to kill her?"<p>

"It could still have been Xanthe," Allegra suggested flatly "After all, dark spirits can change shape—she could have escaped from the police station easily."

"NO! Xanthe wouldn't kill Carol, I found it hard to believe that she had killed Rebecca but I _know_ that she didn't kill mum!" Lucy snapped. Allegra was taken aback, but inside she knew that Lucy was right; and besides that, Lucy had said it with so much confidence that it was hard to believe that anyone could think differently after hearing her.

Lucy hung her head "I'm sorry," she apologised "I didn't mean to snap at you."

"That's okay. I shouldn't have said that Xanthe killed you mum. You're right, no matter what; she wouldn't have done that, not to Carol and not to you." She hugged Lucy tightly, "We can get through this Lucy—we really can." Her voice was so determined and with a new strength—strength that had been missing from her speech since she had found out about Foundry—that Lucy couldn't help feel a bit better.

* * *

><p>Barnaby and Jones walked into the cellblock, and Xanthe sat up quickly. "Detectives?" She asked.<p>

"In light of some new evidence that has come to light, we're releasing you—you're free to go." Said Tom Barnaby.

Xanthe sighed in relief. "Thank you." She said softly.

"I should warn you though: Carol Evans was found dead this morning—she was murdered."

"Murdered? No, not Carol!" Said Xanthe, turning white.

"I'm afraid so."

Xanthe looked at the bare walls as Jones unlocked the cell door, "How are they coping with it? Lucy and her family?"

"As well as can be expected." Said Jones. "They are of course rather shaken and shocked."

"I'd imagine."

"We just need you to fill out a couple of forms, Miss Greenwood." Said Barnaby, leading the way out of the cellblock.

"It wasn't quite what I had in mind for getting you out." Jones whispered under his breath as Xanthe stepped out of the cell.

"I'm glad to hear that—you had me worried for a moment."

Ben chuckled as she stepped out of the room, relocking the cell before following them out to where Xanthe was filling out the aforementioned forms. "I take it Allegra still doesn't want to see me?" She asked, signing her release document.

"Give her some time." Said Barnaby. "Right then. Jones will drive you back home, we are very sorry about the whole thing."

Lucy and Allegra were talking to Thumper as the day wore on. "I wonder if he knows that Mum is gone?" Lucy said, lying stomach down on the grass as her rabbit sniffed around her head.

"Even if he doesn't, he can probably tell you're sad." Said Allegra, curled up against a tree.

It had been Robert that had sent them out into the garden, telling them that the sunshine would make them feel better. Lucy had a suspicion that it was as much about giving him a break, but she did not mind. She knew how upset and tired her father was—right now she was too emotionally shocked to feel anything.

"He certainly is behaving oddly." Sighed Lucy. "Aren't you boy?" She stroked his soft fur.

"What are you going to do without your mum, Lucy?" Asked Allegra.

"I don't know. I don't even know how I can be sitting here, talking as if nothing's wrong."

They heard a car pull up on the street.

"Who could that be?" Asked Allegra.

"Let's go see." Lucy said, picking up the rabbit who tried to evade capture by scrabbling into a flowerpot lying in the garden. They walked around to the front of the house with the rabbit in toe, and saw sergeant Jones' car. Getting out of the passenger's side was Xanthe Greenwood.

"Xanthe." Allegra hissed under her breath.

Her mother thanked Jones for the lift and shut the door, shivering slightly in the sunlight. As Jones drove off, Xanthe seemed to realise that she was being watched, she turned around to see them standing by the wall that divided the two properties. "Hello Allegra, Lucy." She said with a hopeful note in her voice.

Allegra just turned and walked back into the garden, leaving Lucy to look sadly at Xanthe before hurrying after her. She put Thumper in his run as she went past, and the startled rabbit took off and hid beneath his shelter, meanwhile she caught Allegra up as she was about to enter the kitchen.

"Allegra." She said, grabbing her hand.

"They let her out." Her friend replied stonily.

"That's good isn't it? It means that the police think she didn't do the other murders either." Said Lucy.

"I still haven't forgiven her though." Mumbled Allegra, opening the door and stepping inside.

* * *

><p>Xanthe walked into the kitchen with a sigh, dumping her keys and bag onto the kitchen table. Without really thinking about it, she filled the kettle up and put it on the stove, all the while looking out the window at what she could see of Jasmine cottage. Her daughter still did not want to speak to her—she had gone as far as to walk away when she had seen her.<p>

She sat down at the table, and put her head in her hands; she had been released, but she still did not have her daughter back, and other parts of her life were beginning to become more complicated too.

She did not know what she was going to do.

On the stove, the kettle started shrieking.

* * *

><p>Tom's phone rang as he came out of the police station, to meet Jones' car, "Barnaby." He answered, indicating for Jones not to get out, and to restart the car.<p>

"_Chief Inspector."_ It was Adam Avencoft.

"Ah, doctor, what can I do for you?" He asked as he got into the passenger side.

"_I have a friend at the mortuary,"_ The Doctor said, _"He's just faxed me a copy of the preliminary findings of the report into Anna Thetique's death, I thought you might be interested."_

"I would indeed be interested." Said Barnaby, "Doctor Avencoft's place Jones." He said as Jones left the curb.

"_He told me that the full report would be out tomorrow, but in case you wanted a heads up, I thought I should give you a call… Oh hello, did you forget something—? Argh!"_

"Doctor?"

There was a thump, and sounds of a scuffle, but no reply. "Jones, step on it." Ordered Barnaby, reaching over and flipping on the lights and siren as Ben floored the accelerator and turned onto the road out of the village.

They screeched to a halt at the doctor's house, sending the white gravel flying as the brakes worked overtime to bring the car to a stop. Jones and Barnaby both sprang out, but hadn't taken one step towards the house before there was an ear splitting smash, and they both looked up to see the doctor sailing through the second story window, his back arched in a graceful curve, before crashing down on top of a line of small cypress hedge in the garden bed; splinters of glass showering all around him.

"Jones!" Barnaby yelled, pointing up at a flick of a hem as a cloaked figure fled from the window. Ben sprinted into the house as Barnaby hurried over to the fallen doctor. He pranced up the steps, and almost broke the door down in his hurry to get through it; he caught his balance just as the door on the other side of the room slammed closed.

"Hey!" Ben shouted, running after the escapee. He wrenched at the door, but it did not budge. Bracing himself against the wall beside it, Jones tried again, but this time the door gave way at once, and he lost balance in surprise, falling backwards into a heap on the floor. He picked himself up but only saw the flick of black cloak again before it again disappeared; this time out a window at the back of the house.

"Stop!" He yelled again, running over to the open window, there was a tree barely four feet away that it seemed the murderer may have used, but by the time Jones got to the bottom, he couldn't see anyone anywhere.

The sound of an engine starting raised his hopes again, and he sped across the back lawn and scrambled over the high wall at the back. He found himself in a dirt lane, and looked around just as a black car screeched away around the corner at the end.

He could not make out the registration number.

* * *

><p>By the time that Ben got back to the front yard, several paramedics were loading Adam into an ambulance with a neck brace on. PC Kayle was there with the patrol car, taping off the front entrance to the property, while Barnaby was talking to one of the paramedics. "Ah, Jones." He called as he saw him walking around the side of the house.<p>

"Is he alright?" Asked Jones, nodding to Adam as the ambulance quickly pulled away, pausing only for long enough to let PC Kayle lower the police tape.

"He'll live. But they are a bit worried about his neck." Said Barnaby, "I take it you didn't catch them?"

"No sir." Answered Jones, "He had a car in the lane behind the house, it's a black sedan, but I didn't get the rego."

"He was attacked because he knew something, Jones." Said Barnaby, walking with him to the front door of the house, "He told me that he had just received a fax of the preliminary report into Anna Thetique's autopsy."

"It seems like it then, Sir." Agreed Jones as they entered the consultation room, "I just wish that I'd been able to stop him."

"He's getting desperate though, Jones." Said Barnaby, examining the smashed leadlight window, and bits of knocked over furniture. "This attack was hurried, unpolished and in the middle of the day, all the others have been at night."

"Well then he was surprised, and had to improvise." Jones concluded.

"Check the filing cabinet, Jones, see if there's anything in there."

Ben looked through the top draw at various patients' files while Barnaby scanned the desk. "Here's the file on Thetique, sir." He said, pulling out a rather thick folder and browsing through it. "No sign of any autopsy report."

"Ah, here we are." Said Barnaby, picking a page up off the desk, "Keep looking Jones, see if there's anything else out of the ordinary…" He trailed off.

"Sir?" Asked Ben turning around to see Barnaby staring at the page, his lips moving slightly as they often did just before he worked something out.

"Let's go, Jones!" Said Barnaby suddenly, stuffing the paper into his jacket pocket and bolting for the door.

"What? Sir?!" Asked Jones, chucking Anna's file on the top of the cabinet roughly and taking off after his DCI.

"I know who did it, Jones. I'm sure this time!" Barnaby shouted over his shoulder. "Come on, I'll tell you on the way."

"It was Achernar Muliphein." His boss started as they ran across the car park.

"What? But he was in prison when Anna was killed!" Protested Jones, as he got into the driver's seat of the car while Barnaby fell into the passenger's.

"The Autopsy report, Jones! It says that her stomach contents had several objects identified as sleeping pills in it, but they were all at very different levels of dissolution—she had to have taken them over several hours."

"So it was accidental!?" Asked Jones, starting the car and turning towards the driveway. PC Kayle hurriedly pulled the tape up as they approached and let them drive out and onto the main street. "Where to, Sir?"

"Willow Cottage, Jones."

"What about the other murders, then?"

"While you were dropping Xanthe off, I checked the accounts of Star Insurance as well a few other interesting parties; Sirius nearly ruined their business with the deal over Xanthe's fishpond," Barnaby explained, talking as fast as possible as if that might help them get there faster. "Can't you go any faster? He created so much negative publicity over it that several people changed agents. And according to Rebecca's notes, Achernar indicated that Sirius had been embezzling as well, with the business already in trouble, my guess is that the risk of a blackmail slur against it as well was just too much for Achernar."

"_Oh, you... I was expecting someone else." Said Sirius, opening the door a bit wider. "Do hurry up, Miss Graves is supposed to come and collect her mail in a tick."_

_Achernar, dressed in a black hooded cloak, brandished a long cord of rope at him, and Sirius, realising what he was intending to do, fled in panic. He made it as far as the kitchen before Achernar reached him, diving on him from behind as he tried to run for the cutlery draw, and looping the cord around his neck pulled it tight._

_Sirius struggled as Achernar pulled tighter, before eventually stilling._

"And Rebecca, she must have seen something that made her twig. She rang from the show grounds according to Xanthe; she must have been overheard…"

_Rebecca hurried towards the gate, late for her appointment with Xanthe._

"_And where are you going in such a hurry?" A voice behind her asked._

_Rebecca jumped about a foot in the air, before spinning around to see who belonged to the voice. But even as she did so, she knew who it was. She stiffened as she saw that she was right._

"_Achernar. What are you doing here?" She asked, heart pounding._

_Achernar just laughed as he lunged forward, once again wrapping a rope around her neck and pulled, dragging her back into the garden in order to keep the pressure on._

"So what about Foundry then, Sir?" Asked Jones, "Why kill him? I can't see him killing him just because he had arrested him."

"I think Foundry was less personal," Barnaby said, "He knew that Xanthe and he had had a history of some sort, and when he saw her take off from the shop, he knew that he could frame her with his death. In the end it was even more successful than that, given the extra complication of the custody case, although it's possible he found out about that too."

_Jason Foundry pulled up to the curb on Flora Avenue, several doors up from Xanthe's house and turned the ignition off._

_Chuckling to himself, he opened the door and stepped out, but at once started in surprise. Achernar stood in his way, his hood pulled down over his eyes so that his face could not be seen._

"_Who are you and what do you want?" Foundry bellowed impatiently. He frowned as Achernar made no attempt either to move or communicate._

"_Look, buddy; what's the meaning of all this? I'm a busy person; I don't have time..." He cut off as Achernar raised his hands. He pushed him back into the car, and attached an alligator clip to the metal doorframe. Foundry spasmed as a strong electric current pulsed through him, thrashing before eventually becoming still._

_An evil smile cut across Achernar's face as he watched the lightning show continue for a few seconds more, before he turned and moved away from a job well done._

"And Carol heard him as he tried to plant that false evidence in Xanthe's house." Nodded Jones in understanding.

"Yes, I don't know if Carol actually saw anything, but either way, she was too dangerous to be left alive."

_Achernar watched as Carol began to hurriedly make her way back to her house. Fearing that she had seen him, he felt around for a rock and came across a large pale round one, and threw it at her. It landed short of her, but made a loud thud as it bounced off the grassy ground and into the garden edging._

_Achernar picked up another rock as Carol turned to investigate the noise, and crept up behind her. He whacked her on the back of the head with the stone, dropping her to the ground, but not killing her. Achernar knelt down over her pain wracked form and tried to finish the job, missing several times due to her thrashing before eventually landing the killing blow._

_Taking the rock with him, he ran from the scene before anyone could come._

"And Adam, he must have realised that he would be a prime suspect once it was known that Anna's death had been declared accidental—destroying his perfect alibi. I suppose he killed the doctor to stop him from telling us."

_Adam and Achernar fought in the consultation room, knocking some of the furniture over and winding up near the window that over looked the driveway and car park. As Achernar got the upper hand, he pushed Adam with all his might, sending him flying through the window and down to the ground below._

"I just can't work out why he didn't take the report."

"Maybe he decided that being caught was a greater risk." Said Ben, "I almost caught him as it was, I would have if he'd made any side trips."

"That is perhaps the logical outcome." Barnaby agreed.

"But it wouldn't have gotten him very far, anyway." Said Ben as they entered the village, swerving around other traffic that seemed determined to get in the way. "As soon as that full report comes out tomorrow, we'd know that anyway."

"I think he'll be trying to leave well before then, I think he just wanted to give himself enough time to commit one more murder before he disappears."

"Xanthe Greenwood."

Barnaby nodded, "Now that she's been released, she's a liability to him. She knows that Achernar and Sirius knew about her and Foundry, and when she puts that together with the other evidence that suggests that she's been framed, I'm sure that it won't take her too long to figure it out."

They turned onto Flora Avenue.


	13. In Which the Case is Really Closed

**CHAPTER-TWELVE**

**IN WHICH THE CASE is CLOSED**

**(REALLY THIS TIME)**

Xanthe opened the door to repeated loud knocking, and was immediately face to face with Tom Barnaby and Ben Jones. "What now detectives?" She asked wearily. "Haven't you done enough yet?"

"We believe that Achernar Muliphein is going to make an attempt on your life tonight." Said Barnaby, getting straight to the point.

"Achernar? But he was in jail when Anna died." Said Xanthe in confusion.

"Anna Thetique's death was an accidental overdose." Barnaby responded, "She took the pills over a long period of time, suggesting that she was taking them of her own volition."

"But then I don't understand; why would Achernar have killed Sirius?" Asked Xanthe.

"There's not the time at the moment, to explain it to you." Said Barnaby, nodding to Jones, who ran past Xanthe and began to climb the stairs to the second story. "We need to get you out of here as soon as possible, you're not safe here."

"Hang on just a moment." Said Xanthe, "What are you planning on doing when I'm gone?"

Jones paused on the bottom step, as Barnaby slowly considered. "We're going to wait for him to arrive and then arrest him." Said Jones at last.

"Why not just go and find him now, then? Asked Xanthe, "I think the main reason is that you don't actually have that much in the way of evidence, do you?" She asked.

Barnaby sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, that, and we're not entirely sure where he is at the minute." Admitted Jones, "Although it's more the latter."

"Well then, why don't I stay as bait?" Asked Xanthe.

"We _have_ done it before, Sir." Jones agreed thoughtfully, "Remember? With Mrs Beverly?"

"I do indeed remember that, Jones, and I also remember that I was on tenterhooks the whole afternoon." He looked at Xanthe, "And you, you've got a daughter to think about."

"Allegra won't speak to me at the moment anyway, Chief Inspector." Said Xanthe sadly, "Maybe if I can do this, I can go somewhat to repairing the gap between us.

"Another consideration detectives, is if Achernar is watching the house, he would see me leave with you, and he'd just follow me to where ever you were planning on holing me up. And then you would have gained nothing, and I'd be dead anyway."

Barnaby sighed, "This is not a good idea." He muttered. "Right then, well Jones, if you want to go through with this it's consideration time—we have no uniformed men."

"That's right, Sir." Agreed Jones.

"He's managed to overpower five people, including a police officer."

"Yes, Sir." Said Jones, clearly wondering where this was going.

"So how were you planning to hold him?"

"Well, Sir. We have our guns."

"Guns, Sergeant?"

"Yes, that we're now required to carry."

"Oh, yes." Grumbled Barnaby dryly, "How could have I forgotten them?"

"Because you immediately want to forget anything that John Cotton has signed off on." Responded Jones.

Barnaby ignored him and turned to Xanthe, "What about you? Do you have a shotgun or some other sort of weapon to protect yourself with in case something goes wrong?"

"A gun? Chief Inspector, my mission is all about _saving_ the forest, not blowing it up!"

"One of us can hide in the cupboard, Sir." Jones suggested instead, "The other'll be down here; we'll have all bases covered."

Barnaby massaged his temples. "Okay." He sighed, "But this had better work, Jones, or you can forget about them promoting you to Inspector."

* * *

><p>"I've moved the car back to the police station, Sir." Said Jones, jumping up the stairs two at a time and walking into Xanthe's bedroom, "I didn't see anyone on the way."<p>

"Good." Said Barnaby, turning back to Xanthe who was dressed in lilac pyjamas, "Now, you remember exactly what you're going to do?" He asked.

"Yes," Sighed Xanthe, "I'm going to pretend to be asleep in bed, in case he's been watching the lights in the house, and then when he comes into the house, you'll arrest him."

"Good." Said Barnaby. He sighed, "I do hope you realise how risky this is." He added toeilly, "How you ever convinced me to go along with this is beyond me."

"Because we both know that the only other evidence we have is circumstantial." Said Jones, "We've got no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no way of establishing that he actually _was_ at any of the crime scenes."

"Okay, okay, I get it, Jones. Fine." Said Barnaby, holding his hands up. "Miss Greenwood? Any second thoughts?"

Xanthe looked determinedly back, "Not if it's going to make this village safe again." She said, "Just promise me one thing, detectives." She added with a slight frown, "If anything does happen to me, please make sure that Allegra is looked after… I mean it's not that I don't trust Mr Evans, just well… you can never be too careful."

"We'll make sure." Jones assured her.

"Right, now then, Jones." Barnaby said, clapping him on the shoulder, "He could be here at any moment now, so it's time for you to go and get into the wardrobe."

"Me?!" Asked Jones, glancing at the tiny closet imbedded in the wall. "I did it last time."

"Well you don't expect me to do it, do you?" Asked Barnaby.

"Sure, why not?"

"Well I'm not sure I'd fit in there, Jones. I'm not as slim as I once was."

"Since when have you been concerned about your weight, Sir?"

"Since when have you been interested in the traffic division, Jones?" Countered Barnaby. Xanthe giggled at the banter between them.

Jones rolled his eyes and sighed, before clambering into the cramped closet. "I thought so." Barnaby grinned. He turned to Xanthe, "All set?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Argh!" Jones' exclamation, slightly muffled, emerged from inside the closet.

"Jones, what are you doing?" Asked Barnaby.

"Nothing, Sir, just wacked my head again. But I'm perfectly alright—thanks for asking."

"Again?! Well do be more careful—you don't see me injuring myself everywhere I go, do you?" Called back Barnaby with a wink at Xanthe.

"Is he always like that?" Asked Xanthe once Barnaby had left. She slipped carefully into bed and turned off the light.

"The Inspector? Oh yes." Said Jones, his voice muffled, "I used to think he was testing me, but now I know it just appeals to his wacky sense of humour."

There was silence for a half minute, "When do you get the word about whether or not you've been made an inspector?"

"Don't know." Said Jones, "Wish they'd hurry up and tell me though, one way or the other. This waiting's driving me mad."

Xanthe chuckled…

"I'm sure your daughter will forgive you, you know." Said Jones after another pause, "You were only looking out for her after all."

"I don't know how long it will take though." Said Xanthe sadly, "She's very stubborn, Allegra, with a spirit as free as an autumn breeze." Jones saw her smile briefly through the crack between the doors, her face illuminated by the almost full moon.

"Well. Now we wait I suppose." Said Jones, trying to shift to a more comfortable position, which was pretty much impossible in the cramped cupboard.

And wait they did. Jones checked his digital watch some time later, and discovered that fifty minutes had gone by.

"You still awake in there?" Asked Xanthe grumpily.

"For the moment." Responded Jones flatly, trying to slowly manipulate his stiff legs.

"Do you really think he's going to come?" She whispered.

"Well he's got to, hasn't he?" Said Jones, his voice edged with grumpy tiredness. "All that stuff that he put here, he's got to realise that you're going to notice it. And most likely pass it onto the police, you're a liability now."

"Ben, I have an idea about how, the murders were committed with so little physical evidence, but I don't know quite what you'll make of it—I shouldn't even really…" She trailed off.

Jones strained his ears, wondering if she had heard something, and sure enough, there was the very faint sound of hard-soled steps on the pavement outside, coming through the open window.

Jones tensed himself as well as he could in his cramped quarters waiting for the inevitable sound of the front door opening and a fight downstairs, or at the very least a command from his DCI for Muliphein to put his hands up.

But it never came, and a few seconds later there was a soft patter of bare feet on the floor boards. Jones was about to dismiss it as Xanthe standing up, when she exclaimed a cut off, "Wha—?!"

Jones frantically gazed through the crack in the doors to see a figure, hooded and cloaked, in black, but underneath he could make out the odd glimpse of gold and orange; with no other options it looked like the apparition had come in through the window. The figure was holding a tennis ball sized glass sphere to Xanthe's head, and swirling around it, and her head, were thousands of little glimmers of sparkling dust.

Jones had seen enough, he kicked the cupboard door open and sprang out, holding his gun in front of him. "Achernar Muliphein, put your hands in the air!" He yelled, hoping to attract the attention of Barnaby as well.

The startled figure turned around to face him, clutching the glass orb closer to him as he raised a hand. Several things happened in quick succession after that. Ben tried to take a step forward, but he tripped and tumbled forward, grabbing onto the bed as a fireball that had been levelled at his head whizzed by.

As Jones tried to extract himself from Xanthe's best florally dress which he had managed to get his feet caught in, Xanthe herself leaped out of her bed, but had to dive for the floor when Achernar loosed a bolt of lightning from the orb he was holding.

While he was occupied with Xanthe, Jones finally detangled himself, and leapt up and fired the gun. There was a ping and a heavy thud, but Jones did not notice exactly what had happened. He leapt over the bed at Achernar and slammed into him, trying to grab his hands to prevent him from casting any more of the magic.

Into this mess raced Tom Barnaby, fiddling with his gun holster as he tried to rip the weapon out of it. Seeing that Jones' gun had skittered across the floor during the brawl and into the doorway, Barnaby gave up on his own gun and snatched up Jones' weapon instead.

"Hands up!" He bellowed, holding the gun a foot from Achernar's head. The struggle instantly ceased, and Jones picked himself of the floor dragging the uncoöperative murderer to his feet with him and restraining him by the armpits.

"Achernar Muliphein, you're under arrest for the murders of Sirius Eridanus, Rebecca Chambers, Jason Foundry and Carol Evans, as well as the attempted murder of Doctor Avencoft and Xanthe Greenwood." Jones snarled in Muliphein's ear, "You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say, can and definitely _will_ be used in evidence against you."

"So that bastard of a doctor survived did he?" Asked Achernar, all traces of his customary Scottish accent gone. "Pity."

"You were very lucky, you know." Said Barnaby, panting slightly at the quick sprint to the top of the stairs. "That Anna died when she did. Otherwise you'd still be in jail for the first two murders."

"Nah, I doubt it." Said Achernar blandly. "Foundry would have either thought of someone else to blame or I would have been acquitted over his mishandling of evidence." He stared distantly over Tom's shoulder, "It did do a rather good job of throwing suspicion off me to be honest, though."

"Why did you try to kill, Adam?" Asked Barnaby.

"Well, he blackmailed me—told me to get out of the village, or he would expose me." Said Achernar distantly, "Which was all fine and well, except that as soon as I walked out the door, he rang you. And I knew that he was going to tell you that I'd been there."

"Actually, he was just ringing us to tell us that Anna had died from self-inflicted overdose." Said Barnaby, pulling the folded pathology report from his inside jacket pocket, "We found the report on his desk."

"Oh, well. I never liked him much anyway." Shrugged Achernar.

"Why did you try to frame me?" Demanded Xanthe.

Achernar shrugged again, "Nothing personal." He said, "You'd argued with Sirius; it was too good an opportunity to pass up… plus, you're one of _them_."

He grinned suddenly, "Sirius and I plotted for a long time on what we were going to do, but he got impatient and broke into the office and stole my orb, so I had to get it back."

Barnaby looked at him strangely, completely bewildered. Achernar's grin widened, "And now, Inspector Barnaby; you think you're a bit cleaver, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

He launched himself back without warning, catching Jones in the nose with the back of his head. As Ben reeled, he swung around his arm with the glass orb in his hand and smacked it into Jones' cheek, sending him stumbling back into Xanthe, sending them both sprawling on the ground. With a triumphant smile, Achernar stuffed the bullet-holed orb into his pocket, and sprang for the window, "You'll have to catch me first!" He called before leaping full bodied out of it.

Only Jones and Xanthe noticed the glass orb had a bullet-hole in it, and was now empty of the swirling magic, and only Xanthe recognised the significance. Achernar only realised at the apogee of his jump—as the effects of gravity began to take force again—that the stolen stardust magic was gone, and he had reverted back to his human form.

"Nooooooooooooooo—!" He shrieked as he plunged from the second story height to the ground below, landing with an unpleasant crunch on the cobble paved garden path below.

"I hate it when they do that." Muttered Barnaby peering out the window at the body below.

"Obviously didn't want to be taken alive," Said Xanthe quickly

"Obviously couldn't face the wrath of PS Evens." Ben agreed, realising that whatever had just happened, it was probably supposed to remain a secret.

* * *

><p>Jones and Barnaby walked back towards the pub as the police and coroner swarmed over Achernar's body, "Ah well," Said Jones, "At least we don't have to turn up at his trial."<p>

"I don't like it when there's no conviction." Muttered Barnaby, "It never feels as final."

"Nothing's more final than the ground at the end of a long drop, Sir." Pointed out Ben. "And at least he can't have some smart arsed lawyer get him off."

"True."

"You realise though, Sir; that this means that Inspector Foundry was right all along."

"Just goes to show, Jones, that even _he_ can have a moment of inspired genius—even if he was a completely and utterly idiotic git with no redeeming features." Said Barnaby with a grim smile.

"Come on sir, cheer up; we've had an interesting case."

"Indeed, I'll be interested to see your report on the affair, Jones." Said Barnaby.

"My report, Sir?" Asked Jones in surprise.

"Yes. Technically, I'm still on holiday, which makes you the Officer in Charge." Said Barnaby, "Detective _Inspector_ Jones."

Ben swung around in surprise.

"I had a call just before." Said Barnaby with a smile, "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Sir." Said Jones, matching his expression.

"Let's go then, have a drink." Said Barnaby, clapping him on the back. "Enjoy it while you can, Ben." He advised, "Before you get transferred off somewhere and get given a newly upgraded DC to look after."

"I will, Sir." Grinned Jones.


	14. In Which There is a Feast

**CHAPTER-THIRTEEN**

**IN WHICH THERE IS A FEAST**

Barnaby walked into the hospital room and up to the sole bed. The occupant immediately became agitated when he entered his field of view. He mumbled something unintelligible.

"I'm sorry?" Asked Barnaby.

"It was Achernar… Muliphein." Panted Adam Avencoft.

"We know, it's alright, we got him." Said Barnaby, giving the man a smile.

Avencoft visibly relaxed. "I've always hated hospitals." He mumbled idly.

"And yet you became a doctor." Observed Tom ironically.

Adam's lip twinged, "That's why I'm a GP and not a surgeon earning thousands." He panted.

"Are you going to be alright?" Asked Barnaby, indicating the neck brace.

"Won't know until the damn X-rays come back." Adam responded, "And they won't take this off until then either. My health be damned, I want this thing off."

Barnaby chuckled, "In Rebecca's case notes, there was a reference to Achernar saying that he'd come to you with a stomach pain, and you'd sent him home. And he'd then had his appendix taken out that night. Next to that she's scribbled 'lies'; care to explain that?"

Adam grinned, "Going to report me to the board of health are you?" he asked. "The surgeons bungled, I diagnosed tummy cramps, and he didn't believe me and called an ambulance. He was rushed into hospital and given emergency surgery to remove his appendix. On the examination afterwards, they determined that his appendix was perfectly healthy, and they revised their opinion back to cramp. I've got a transcript of the whole proceeding somewhere."

"And Rebecca knew this?"

"I may have mentioned it. She always did look out for me, did Rebecca. I'll miss her."

At that moment, a doctor came in with a large file.

"X-rays, Doctor Avencoft, hot off the press." He said cheerily.

"Ah, the moment of truth." Said Adam laconically.

The doctor put up the series of angles of his neck up on the display board, occasionally 'ah'ing or 'hmm'ing.

"I'm glad you find that so fascinating, doctor." Said Adam, "Now if you'd be as so kind as to tell me what the prognosis is since I can't move my neck enough to see the board with this dumb brace on."

"Well you can have a look now if you like." Said the doctor, "You're a pain in my neck, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with yours."

"Ah, that's the best news I've had since I heard that England had won the ashes." Adam said.

"Let's just hope it's a bit more permanent." Ginned Barnaby.

* * *

><p>Thursday night, the next night after the apprehension of the murderer, found the stardust glade in the centre of the woods full of people. A couple of the more musically inclined spirits had brought along instruments, and were playing various well known tunes while the other spirits sat around and talked, or laughed, or danced.<p>

Two huge trestle tables had been set up in the middle of the glade, and were groaning under the weight of bowls of fruit and cakes and juice and anything else that the spirits could get their hands on to bring.

Stardust spirits always knew how to throw a good party, Lucy reflected. Despite everything that had happened over the last few weeks, and the death of her own mother, she could not help but smile slightly at the occasion, particularly when she saw her friends dancing wildly, almost bouncing off the trees at the edge of the glade.

Everyone was there; Miss Graves, Joanna, Laura, Samantha, Xanthe of course, and many of the other regulars, as well as some that Lucy and Allegra had not seen in weeks or months. One of the big surprises had been seeing Ben Jones standing with a few of the other adult spirits, his pearly-grey tunic donating his status as a newly discovered spirit who had yet to learn which season was his.

"This was found with the rest of Achernar's possessions." Jones was saying, handing a stardust orb to Xanthe, "I thought that it would best be given to you guys. I thought it probably belonged to Sirius since Achernar's was destroyed." He looked at Xanthe meaningfully.

"So Sirius _was_ a dark stardust spirit as well… I was afraid of as much… It seems that Sirius stole Achernar's orb, and that's the _real_ reason that he killed him…"

Lucy and Allegra tensed as Xanthe looked carefully at the orb, before whispering something. With a crack and a flash of light, the stardust contained in the orb escaped streaming straight through the glass and sped off into the sky.

"There, now everything is as it should be again." Smiled Xanthe, passing the now empty globe back to Ben as Lucy and Allegra both relaxed. "I would think that should probably go with the other stuff now, then."

"The DCI and I were struck with how unusually neat some of the murders had been." Ben said slowly, "But that was what you were going to tell me, wasn't it Xanthe—how the murders could be stardust related?"

"It was." Xanthe nodded, "Fire from a summer spirit could have had the heat to burn Sirius to death without touching the rest of the house." Lucy and Allegra flew closer, listening curiously. They were also joined by their friends, "And though it's not commonly known, lighting is an extremely advanced form of winter magic, which would explain Foundry's electrocution."

Faye gasped.

"What about Mum?" Asked Lucy, stepping forward.

Xanthe looked at her sadly, "I was looking at the impact marks in the lawn this morning. I thought it was likely large sized hail, the size of a cricket ball, falling at great speed."

Lucy nodded glumly.

"And Rebecca could have been killed by spring magic." Said Ella, "With a vine or something…"

"And that might have been used to stop her from moving too." Added Xanthe thoughtfully.

"Or it could have been binding magic." Said Allegra, glaring at her mother; daring her to disagree.

"I guess it's all academic either way." Said Jones, smoothly defusing the situation. "The official version of the report is that they were killed by conventional common garden means. And we can't really ask _him_."

"That reminds me," Said Joanna, handing her glass of elderberry juice to Robyn, "I had an announcement to make."

"Haven't we had enough of those over the last week?" Asked Xanthe jokingly, to a general chuckle of amusement. Lucy noticed that Allegra did not laugh though.

"Don't worry; I'll try not to make it too much like one of Inspector Foundry's." Winked Joanna as she climbed up onto one of the roots of the large tree in the centre of the glade, before she turned and called to the forty or so gathered spirits.

"Good evening, everybody!" She said loudly, "This feast was supposed to be held on Sunday evening to celebrate the completion of the wildlife festival.

"But due, of course, to events that we are all aware of, we decided against it. Instead we decided to hold it when the murderer had been caught; which occurred last night." She continued. "So we are here to celebrate several things, the fact that Achernar Muliphein is no longer a threat, due to his accidental death while trying to escape the police.

"We're here to celebrate a new stardust spirit, who many of us will recognise as Sergeant Ben Jones." She led an applause which Jones politely acknowledged with his hand.

"We have also heard that Adam is okay, is neck wasn't broken, and he looks forward to joining us again when he is released in a day or two." There was another cheer.

"And finally, but not leastly, let's all remember all the people who have died over the last week that we will all miss: Rebecca Chambers, Anna Thetique, and Carol Evans." Everyone stood solemnly for a moment. "But having said that all, let's enjoy ourselves!" Said Joanna, springing lightly down to join the group again. Another clap ran through the congregation before they all went their separate ways again.

Back to dancing, or the tables of food, or the friends they had been talking to.

The girls all walked over to a quiet corner of the glade, each with a glass of elderberry cordial. "To Mum and Rebecca." Lucy proposed quietly.

They all jingled their glasses together, "And to Anna Thetique." Allegra added.

"You mean to her chocolate buns." Said Ella with a grin, "I know you, that's what you're _really_ going to miss."

"Ella!" Said Faye.

"No, to be honest she's probably right." Said Allegra with a faint smile, "I knew her chocolate buns a lot better than I did her. So with every respect, I'll probably miss them more."

The girls giggled, "Well, I like this mid-year party idea." Said Keely cheerfully, "We only used to have one on Christmas night in Australia."

"Well, get used to a lot more of them here." Laughed Robyn.

"Hey, let's make the best of it." Said Keely to Lucy and Allegra, "No one would have wanted you to get too depressed."

"You're right." Said Lucy, "Let's go and dance, for Mrs Thetique, Rebecca and for Mum."

"And definitely not for Foundry." Said Allegra.

"Hey, he did do one good thing." Ella countered.

"What?"

"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him." Said Faye. Allegra grinned.

All six of them took off together, and Lucy could not help but think that despite everything, she was glad that she still had her friends…

**CASE CLOSED**


End file.
